As a massive fan of DC animated films this one leaves me deeply divided. What it does well, it does extremely well. However what it does poorly results in some moments that are both painful and boring. It'd be easier to let the faults go if this wasn't the start of a new DCAU (DC Animated Universe) continuity.
So the film opens in a world where most of the key superheroes exist, but have yet to actually interact with each other. When a massive world-threatening even occurs they must all come together for the first time to combat it. It's not the most complex story out there, but it's an appropriately huge threat to justify bringing all the characters together.
Starting with the positives: the action scenes are well planned, exciting to watch and well paced. Given that most of the combat is against the somewhat generic and identical parademons, it's high praise that it doesn't leave you burned out by the end. Most of the voice cast works very well, and the characterizations of most of the characters is familiar while being just slightly different from what most fans have seen on screen so far. Shazam is a surprise highlight in this regard.
However, while most of the characters work very well there are two glaring exceptions. The first is the main villain Darkseid. While the film does a good job of showing his raw power, he comes off as extremely generic. There's none of the mastermind scheming that makes him more than just a big brute, and for this reason he could just as easily have been swapped out for any number of other hulking baddies (Doomsday or Soloman Grundy come to mind.) He's really just the boss fight at the end of the film, not a proper character in his own right. It doesn't help that his dialog is also generic super-villain drivel, not that it matters because mostly he only grunts and shouts. During the fights, the film also shares the "Man of Steel's" disregard for collateral damage. While it's fair that plenty of buildings were going to be obliterated in this conflict, none of the heroes seem to have any concern about this happening. This means that fans of Superman who were irritated by his apparent apathy at the lives put in danger by his fighting in a city will have the same criticism here applied to the entire Justice League.
The much bigger problem than Darkseid however is Wonder Woman. She is very poorly written, given naïve and grating dialog throughout, frequently treated as a punchline. It's probably meant to be funny but it just never plays as anything other than irritating. The overly enthusiastic performance of Michelle Monaghan makes it even worse. She exudes none of the stoic strength that made so many of the previous animated takes on the character so powerful. And the almost immediate attraction to Superman only serves to cheapen her further. I'll admit to being fundamentally against the power-couple of Superman and Wonder Woman, as I feel it inherently undermines her. He's literally the only man on the planet that she could be paired with that she isn't the power in the relationship.
There's still plenty that works here, with stellar action and most of the characters having good chemistry (I could watch Green Lantern and Batman bicker all day long.) However the things that aren't working aren't just minor nitpicks, they're fundamental flaws. And some of them are ones we're going to be stuck with for future DCAU releases, which for the first time ever removes my excitement at future adventures of Wonder Woman.
So the film opens in a world where most of the key superheroes exist, but have yet to actually interact with each other. When a massive world-threatening even occurs they must all come together for the first time to combat it. It's not the most complex story out there, but it's an appropriately huge threat to justify bringing all the characters together.
Starting with the positives: the action scenes are well planned, exciting to watch and well paced. Given that most of the combat is against the somewhat generic and identical parademons, it's high praise that it doesn't leave you burned out by the end. Most of the voice cast works very well, and the characterizations of most of the characters is familiar while being just slightly different from what most fans have seen on screen so far. Shazam is a surprise highlight in this regard.
However, while most of the characters work very well there are two glaring exceptions. The first is the main villain Darkseid. While the film does a good job of showing his raw power, he comes off as extremely generic. There's none of the mastermind scheming that makes him more than just a big brute, and for this reason he could just as easily have been swapped out for any number of other hulking baddies (Doomsday or Soloman Grundy come to mind.) He's really just the boss fight at the end of the film, not a proper character in his own right. It doesn't help that his dialog is also generic super-villain drivel, not that it matters because mostly he only grunts and shouts. During the fights, the film also shares the "Man of Steel's" disregard for collateral damage. While it's fair that plenty of buildings were going to be obliterated in this conflict, none of the heroes seem to have any concern about this happening. This means that fans of Superman who were irritated by his apparent apathy at the lives put in danger by his fighting in a city will have the same criticism here applied to the entire Justice League.
The much bigger problem than Darkseid however is Wonder Woman. She is very poorly written, given naïve and grating dialog throughout, frequently treated as a punchline. It's probably meant to be funny but it just never plays as anything other than irritating. The overly enthusiastic performance of Michelle Monaghan makes it even worse. She exudes none of the stoic strength that made so many of the previous animated takes on the character so powerful. And the almost immediate attraction to Superman only serves to cheapen her further. I'll admit to being fundamentally against the power-couple of Superman and Wonder Woman, as I feel it inherently undermines her. He's literally the only man on the planet that she could be paired with that she isn't the power in the relationship.
There's still plenty that works here, with stellar action and most of the characters having good chemistry (I could watch Green Lantern and Batman bicker all day long.) However the things that aren't working aren't just minor nitpicks, they're fundamental flaws. And some of them are ones we're going to be stuck with for future DCAU releases, which for the first time ever removes my excitement at future adventures of Wonder Woman.