Rotten Tomatoes Rating: NA (Critics) / 86% (Audience)
Directed By: Jay Oliva
Written By: Heath Corson
Starring: Sean Astin, Michelle Monaghan, Christopher Gorham, Alan Tudyk, Shemar Moore and Jason O’Mara
Studio: Warner Home Video

Synopsis:Based on the graphic novel by Geoff Johns and Jim Lee, seven heroes must band together for the first time to stop an alien invasion. – (Source)

The Good:
The initial meetings of the various heroes was great fun with Batman, Green Lantern and Superman’s first encounters being the highlights. Green Lantern being amazed that Batman has no powers, Batman relieving Green Lantern of his ring without him even noticing, and Superman basically making both heroes his bitches all were really fun scenes. And then there was this scene which was one of the funniest things ever, bad things happening to Hal Jordan always cracks me up.
I also liked the way the movie showed that some segments of the public and the authorities were not big fans of the costumed set which is pretty realistic because there is nothing we like more in this country than to hate things we don’t understand or can’t control. And Wonder Woman being more Xena than Earth Mother was a positive since the overly preachy, too perfect ambassador of peace and love is probably the most boring rendition of the character. She is infinitely more interesting as a fish out of water warrior.
I also liked all of the voice-acting from a host of veteran TV actors. I even liked Jason O’Mara’s Batman…sure he was no Kevin Conroy but who is?

The Bad
Cyborg came off like a bit of a whiner before becoming a super-hero (who disrupts high level experiments on alien technology just because his dad won’t come to his football games?) and his dad was a massive dick. At the end of the day Cyborg’s father only started to care about his kid once he became a half-machine crimefighter. That is some seriously bad parenting.
I also wasn’t a fan of the design of Darkseid especially not making him into a literal giant who looked a bit too much like the old character Blok from the Legion of Super-Heroes.

The Ugly
Replacing Aquaman with Shazam was weak sauce even though I ended up liking what they did with Shazam in the movie. At least all evidence is pointing to the next Justice League film being one that is Aquaman centric.

Final Verdict: A strong showing out of the gate as the DC animated universe begins to line up with the current DC comic book universe. JUSTICE LEAGUE: WAR presented good old-fashioned action, cool animation, reliable voice acting and a template for any live-action Justice League film to follow. Highly recommended to geeks everywhere.

Grade: B+