I recently gained access to the host of animated DC Comics movies available on HBO Max. So, of course, I feel some motivation to check at least some of them out, especially since I've heard so often that DC's cartoons are often superior to their live-action films.

Justice Society: World War II was the first to catch my eye. It wasn't bad ... but I hope there's better waiting for me on the streaming service.

The movie boasts fair to middlin' animation (although I'm not sure why Wonder Woman had a bullet-shaped head), and the story was ... OK. But, given the greater setting of World War II and Nazis to wrap the plot around, I can't imagine why the creative team felt a need to bookend the story with modern-day set pieces involving the Flash, Superman, Brainiac and Iris West that had nothing to do with the story except providing a never-explained wormhole that thrust the Flash into Nazi-occupied France. Also, I was hoping to see some thrilling superhero-vs-Nazi action, but most of the story dealt instead with a mind-controlled Aquaman and his plan to invade New York City with submarines and hideous sea creatures.

Missed opportunities all around.

Anyway, the story involves the modern Flash (Barry Allen) traveling through time and/or dimensions to find himself in a world where the Justice Society (Wonder Woman, the Jay Garrick Flash, Black Canary, Hawkman, Hourman and Steve Trevor) are secretly fighting Nazis. The Flash arrives in the nick of time to lend a hand, although his presence somehow causes both Flashes to lose a certain amount of power. (Apparently, in this new reality, two speedsters aren't supposed to exist at the same time, unlike most DC realities that seem to have dozens of them.) Then, suddenly we have Aquaman and the forces of Atlantis arrayed against them, and of course the Justice Society can't win on their own without finding some way to introduce Superman into the fray. (The introduction of his super suit is another unexplained macguffin that causes the movie to stumble.)

The story is just sort of ... meh. Not a bad way to spend 90 minutes, especially if it's distracting you while you're mindlessly folding laundry, but certainly not all that memorable, either.

The animated movie features the voice acting of Matt Bomer (Flash/Barry Allen), Stana Katic (Wonder Woman), Armen Taylor (Flash/Jay Garrick), Elysia Rotaru (Black Canary), Omid Abtahi (Hawkman), Chris Diamantopoulos (Steve Trevor), Matthew Mercer (Hourman), Liam McIntyre (Aquaman), Darren Criss (Superman/Clark Kent), Geoffrey Arend (advisor), Ashleigh LaThrop (Iris West), Keith Ferguson (Dr. Fate) and Darin De Paul (Brainiac and Franklin D. Roosevelt).