With The Batman about to hit multiplexes, the folks at DC figured it seemed like a good time for an animated tie-in. This leads us to 2022’s Catwoman: Hunted, a new direct-to-video adventure focuses on one of the new live-action flick’s main characters.

When a priceless emerald becomes the apple of her eye, Selina Kyle (voiced by Elizabeth Gillies) – best known as Catwoman – aspires to steal it. Inevitably, this leads to confrontations with crimefighters, as among others, Batwoman (Stephanie Beatriz) tries to apprehend our feline thief.

Catwoman faces other threats too, as the criminal enterprise Juggernaut and various assassins come after her as well. How many of Catwoman’s nine lives will remain after she confronts all these threats?

Though the character played a prominent part in the 1960s Batman TV series - played by three different actors over the show’s run! – I think 1992’s Batman Returns gave the character her greatest modern-day prominence. Michelle Pfeiffer’s performance won immense plaudits and became arguably the strongest aspect of that film.

I seem to recall rumors of a Catwoman spinoff in the early 1990s, but the character didn’t get her own movie until 2004, with Halle Berry in the lead. This didn’t go well, as the movie received brutal reviews and bombed at the box office.

Thus Catwoman went back to “supporting character” status for 2012’s Dark Knight Rises and 2022’s aforementioned The Batman, as well as other efforts. At least Hunted gives the Cat a chance as the lead of a movie for the first time since 2004.

With its throwback Saul Bass-influenced opening sequence and its anime—style art, Hunted declares itself as something different right off the bat. Not that all the DC animated flicks follow identical templates, as we’ve gotten a few variations along the way.

Nonetheless, Hunted deviates more than most, and it does so in a manner that threatens to send it off course. The film offers such a broad, borderline campy take that it easily could turn into an obnoxious collection of stylistic choices more than a coherent movie.

Happily, the various choices work. While Hunted occasionally risks a preference of style over substance, it offers such a gleeful and giddy experience that the decisions succeed.

Not that anyone should expect a particularly strong narrative here. Whereas many DC animated flicks dig into meaty storylines, Hunted takes a looser approach, one that favors wild antics over formal plot.

Usually I would find myself displeased with this approach, but Hunted plays so fast and loose that the absence of much more than those wild shenanigans doesn’t become an issue. Sure, the film does offer a plot related to the stolen emerald, but these elements feel like MacGuffin territory, for they all act as little more than an excuse to give us action.

And again, that works fine with me, as Hunted proceeds at such a brisk pace. The movie just digs into the catty – pun intended – fun of the subject, and it suffers from few delusions of grandeur.

All of this adds up to one of the more entertaining DC animated efforts. Hunted takes some chances that pay off and turn this into a vivid, lively affair.

Catwoman: Hunted appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.78:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. The movie offered a strong visual presentation.

At all times, sharpness remained terrific. Virtually no softness crept into the image, so we got a tight, well-defined package.

No signs of jagged edges or moiré effects materialized, and I saw no edge haloes. Print flaws also remained absent.

Given all its wild antics, Hunted boasted a moderately varied palette that happily deviated from the usual trend toward orange and teal. The movie’s colors went with a nice mix of hues, all of which appeared lively and bold. HDR added vivacity and life to the tones.

Blacks seemed deep and dark, while low-light shots presented nice smoothness and clarity. HDR brought range and power to whites and contrast. This ended up as a solid image.

Though not quite as good, the movie’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack added punch to the proceedings. With all sorts of chaos and mayhem on display, the mix opened up well and used the various speakers to create a lively sonic environment.

That said, I thought the mix could’ve provided better integration. While we got a lot of action, the elements didn’t always mesh as well as I’d prefer. Still, the soundfield fared well as a whole, even if it could’ve used a better sense of movement and connection.

Audio worked fine, with speech that came across as natural and concise. Music appeared vivid and full, as the score remained well-depicted.

Effects added spark to the material and showed nice accuracy and depth, with warm, tight bass. The minor awkwardness of the soundfield took this to a “B”, but it was still a pretty good mix.

How did the 4K UHD compare to the Blu-ray version? Audio remained identical, as both discs sported the same DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix.

As for visuals, the 4K seemed a bit sharper than the Blu-ray, and colors/blacks came across as a little stronger due to the HDR. While the 4K didn’t trounce the Blu-ray, it worked a smidgen better.

No extras show up on the 4K disc, but two featurettes appear on the included Blu-ray copy, and When the Hunter Becomes the Hunted spans 18 minutes, 57 seconds. It offers comments from comic book writers Jeph Loeb and James Tynion IV, executive producer Michael Uslan, writer/artist Joelle Jones, screenwriter Greg Weisman, producer Ethan Spaulding, and casting/voice director Jamie Thomason.

“Hunted” looks at the Catwoman character as well as aspects of the Hunted production and choices made for the film. This turns into a brief but fairly informative look at Hunted.

The Feline Femme Fatale goes for 39 minutes, 59 seconds and offers info from Loeb, Uslan, writers/artists Frank Miller and Alex Ross, Batman creator Bob Kane, DC President (2002-09) Paul Levitz, author Suzan Colon, DC co-publisher (2010-20) Dan DiDio, TV director Sam Strangis, film directors Christopher Nolan and Tim Burton, film screenwriters Jonathan Nolan, Matt Reeves and Daniel Waters, film producers Emma Thomas, Dylan Clark and Denise Di Novi, animated series co-creator Bruce Timm, animated series writer/producer Paul Dini, animated series director Dan Riba. Gotham writers Seth Boston, Bryan Wynbrandt, John Stephens and Tze Chun, and actors Eartha Kitt, Michelle Pfeiffer, Adrienne Barbeau, Julie Newmar, Adam West, Lee Meriweather, Danny DeVito, Halle Berry, Sharon Stone, Anne Hathaway, Christian Bale, Zoe Kravitz and Camren Bicondova.

“Fatale” delivers a look at the origins, development and history of Catwoman. We find a pretty enjoyable overview of Catwoman across the years.

A wild, anime-influenced adventure, Catwoman: Hunted becomes a vivid tale. With lively stylistic choices and an array of dynamic situations, this winds up as an above average DC animated program. The 4K UHD boasts excellent visuals as well as good audio and a few bonus materials. I find a lot to like about this exciting film.

To rate this film, visit the prior review of CATWOMAN: HUNTED