For the latest DC Animated Universe (DCAU) film, we get arguably the clunkiest movie title in history. This comes via 2023’s Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes and Huntsmen Part One.

An unknown force assaults the Justice League. This entity sends them to the realm of Remnant, where they also find themselves reverted to adolescent form.

There the Justice League meets teams of warriors known as “RWBY” and “JNPR”. All unite to battle this mysterious foe and also get the Justice League heroes back to Earth.

To utilize a cliché, I was today years old when I heard of “RWBY” and/or “JNPR”. A little research reveals those characters originated as an animated web series in 2013, one with no connection to DC.

That makes Huntsmen a “crossover” between unrelated properties ala 2019’s Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The JL/RWBY project debuted in 2021 as a limited-run comic that the movie adapts.

Whereas I went into that Batman/TMNT film with good knowledge of both sides, as noted I entered Huntsmen with zero awareness of RWBY and JNPR. Given that it takes place in their universe – and comes from “Rooster Teeth”, the production company that generated the animation for the RWBY series – one should expect the project to lean toward that side of the coin.

Which sounds like an interesting premise on the surface. RWBY emphasizes an anime-based style not unique to the DCAU but nonetheless this creates an unusual take on the standard Justice League characters.

Does this crossover work, however? Um… sort of?

The biggest issue here stems from the fact Huntsmen throws a lot at the viewer, especially given its brief 80-minute running time. Granted, this becomes less of a problem for folks familiar with both the Justice League and RWBY universes.

If you go into Huntsmen with good knowledge of the two, then you likely will find yourself on firm ground. If you enter solely with awareness of one or the other, then you need to play a lot of catch-up, and the movie doesn’t connect the dots especially well for rookies.

Not that I find the RWBY side of the film incomprehensible. However, these characters lack a lot of dimensionality, which seems inevitable given we get a bunch of them and find little room for exposition in this rapid-fire film.

With eight Justice League roles as well, Huntsmen suffers from a definite sense of bloat. The film probably should’ve stuck with only three or four DC heroes so it wouldn’t need to spread so thin – and so we could get to know the RWBY participants a bit better.

All that said, Huntsmen manages to deliver a fairly fun ride. As iffy as the storytelling might feel, the movie packs a good mix of action and light comedy.

These elements allow us to ignore the spotty narrative to a moderate degree. While the not-especially-coherent plot can become a drawback, the movie’s sense of thrills and laughs allows it to give us something reasonably enjoyable.

I admit I don’t love the anime look, though that stems more from my view that this style seems gratuitous. I get the impression the RWBY world opts for this look more because of that fanbase than because it makes any real sense.

Nonetheless, Huntsmen delivers a mostly enjoyable adventure. I can’t claim I’ll count the days until we get Part 2, but I will look forward to it.

Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes and Huntsmen Part One appears in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. The film delivered a top-notch visual presentation.

Sharpness looked immaculate. Virtually no soft spots emerged during this tight, concise image.

No issues with jagged edges or moiré effects materialized, and I saw no edge haloes. Source flaws also failed to manifest.

Huntsmen came with a broad palette that emphasized primary colors for the most part. The disc replicated these hues in a vivid, dynamic manner, and HDR gave the tones added oomph.

Blacks felt deep and dense, while low-light shots offered appealing clarity and smoothness. HDR brought extra range and dimensionality to whites and contrast. Across the board, the film looked great.

While not quite as strong, the movie’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack fared nicely as well. This meant a fairly involving soundscape.

Unsurprisingly, action scenes became the most engaging. Nonetheless, the general soundfield showed a nice level of activity and formed a solid core.

Audio quality worked fine, with dialogue that seemed natural and distinctive. Music boasted nice range and impact.

Effects also came across as vivid and accurate, with good dynamics and no signs of distortion. This turned into a worthwhile soundtrack.

How did the 4K UHD compare to the Blu-ray version? Both came with identical audio.

As for visuals, the 4K worked a bit better, mainly because of the impact from the HDR. Both looked very good, but the 4K seemed slightly superior.

A few extras appear here, and a featurette called Justice Comes to Remnant runs seven minutes, 35 seconds and brings notes from director Kerry Shawcross, writer Meghan Fitzmartin, producer Ethan Spaulding, and actors Kara Eberle, Barbara Dunkelman, Arryn Zech, and Lindsay Jones.

They cover the characters and situations of the RWBY universe. This will be old hat to fans of that franchise, but for newbies, it offers a good tutorial.

You Look…. Different goes for nine minutes, one second and offers comments from Shawcross, Fitzmartin, and Spaulding.

We get a view of how the film's producers redesigned the Justice League characters for the RWBY world. It becomes a decent look at the topics

Under From the DC Vault, we locate an episode of Justice League Unlimited called “Kid Stuff” (23:09) as well as a program from Justice League Action entitled “Plastic Man Saves the World” (11:14).

In “Stuff”, when an evil adolescent king banishes all adults to a shadow realm, a sorceress turns the Justice League into kids so they can deal with the threat. This doesn't become a deep story but it offers fun twists.

Via “World”, when the Justice League struggles to battle Brainiac, Plastic Man enters the fray - whether they want him there or not. I don't really get the connection between Huntsmen and this episode, but it offers a brisk and lively tale.

A second disc provides a Blu-ray copy of Huntsmen. It includes the same extras as the 4K.

As a crossover story, Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes and Huntsmen Part One provides a mixed bag. However, it manages fairly consistent entertainment. The 4K UHD comes with excellent visuals, solid audio and a smattering of bonus materials. This never turns into a terrific adventure but it does more right than wrong.

To rate this film, visit the original review of JUSTICE LEAGUE X RWBY