We first met Ant-Man as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) via 2015’s self-titled debut. After supporting roles in other MCU flicks, the role entered the spotlight again for 2018’s Ant-Man and the Wasp.

With 2023’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, we find our first view of the roles in the post-Endgame universe. Thus we get a glimpse to see how life after the “Blip” impacted the characters.

Scott “Ant-Man” Lang (Paul Rudd) now enjoys a celebrated social status as an Avenger. However, his teen daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton) runs into some trouble with the law due to her political activism on the part of those displaced by the five-year “Blip”.

Cassie also conducts experiments to contact the Quantum Realm, a subatomic netherworld where Scott found himself stuck during the Blip. When she sees Cassie’s endeavors, Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) – original Wasp superhero, mother of Scott’s girlfriend/current Wasp Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) and wife of Janet’s dad/original Ant-Man Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) – tries to shut down this connection.

However, this malfunctions and sucks Scott, Hope, Janet, Hank and Cassie into this subatomic world. There they struggle to get back to their realm, and they confront Kang (Jonathan Majors), a mysterious figure who comes with his own agenda.

Despite the overall success of the MCU, the first two Ant-Man movies didn’t exactly dazzle at the box office. In an objective sense, the $519 million worldwide of the 2015 film and the $622 million of its initial sequel sound good, but within the expectations of the MCU, they feel lackluster.

Saddled with the biggest budget of this bunch, Marvel clearly expected more from Quantumania, but it clearly disappointed. The movie took in $475 million worldwide, a figure that left it as the worst-grossing MCU flick of the post-2021/truly “post-pandemic” era.

Quantumania opened well, but it quickly plummeted. It appears bad word of mouth doomed the movie.

Which I don’t think Quantumania deserved. While not a great MCU tale, I feel it musters enough entertainment to succeed.

Granted, some of this may simply stem from my enjoyment of the character. The 2015 Ant-Man was a hoot, and though not as good, Wasp became more than lively enough to continue the prior flick’s momentum.

Unquestionably, Quantumania winds up as the weakest of the three, partly because it offers a convoluted narrative. When we enter the Quantum Realm, the movie splits into pieces.

This means we follow the separate pursuits of Cassie/Scott and Janet/Hope/Hank. Some movies can pull off split narratives, but Quantumania struggles in that regard.

The competing story threads tend to tug us in different directions too much of the time. These eventually come together, of course, but for a good chunk of the movie, we feel somewhat disconnected from the overall picture.

Also, even though co-billed, Quantumania doesn’t give Wasp a lot to do. This remains a movie focused on Scott/Ant-Man, with Hope/Wasp involved in a perfunctory manner.

At times, Quantumania feels too preoccupied with the wild new characters and aspects of the Quantum Realm and too little concerned with story and the core roles. It also tends to lack the charm of the first two movies and can seem a bit anonymous.

Quantumania comes with a darker tone than its predecessors. Not that every MCU movie needs to stick with prior concepts and vibe, but the more dramatic feel doesn’t quite click.

All these complaints and I still give the movie a positive reaction? Yeah, as I think the total equals more than the sum of its parts.

I can pick apart the problems with Quantumania but at the end of the day, the movie kept me with it. Even with the various issues, the film tosses enough at us to ensure interest.

The nature of the Quantum Realm ensures that it gets to indulge in some delightful weirdness. We go down a real rabbit hole here, and the movie manages to take good advantage of it.

I also like the film’s unusually inconclusive finale. Of course, I won’t offer spoilers, but Quantumania comes with an ending that doesn’t exactly wrap up matters in a bow.

Does Quantumania become one of the weaker MCU flicks? Yes, but I still find enough positive here to like the flick.

Footnote: you shouldn’t need me to tell you to stick around through the entire end credits to see bonus clips, but here’s your reminder anyway.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania appears in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. From start to finish, the movie looked solid.

Sharpness worked well. Only minor signs of softness crept into the presentation, so the film usually appeared accurate and concise.

No moiré effects or jagged edges appeared, and I witnessed no edge haloes. Print flaws remained absent.

To the surprise of no one, the film emphasized the usual amber and teal palette. That said, the movie came with a good array of other hues – especially as we explore the often-purple Quantum Realm – so the amber/teal wasn’t oppressive. We got a nice blend of hues, all of which looked strong.

Blacks were deep and firm, while shadows offered smooth, clear visuals. Though not stellar, I stll felt impressed by this fine presentation.

The movie’s DTS-HD MA 7.1 soundtrack added a lot of pizzazz to the package. With so much action and havoc, the soundscape enjoyed a slew of chances to come to life, and it did so well.

Various battles and related elements filled the room and zoomed around the spectrum in a vivid, well-integrated manner. Everything connected together in a fluid manner that formed an engrossing circumstance.

Audio quality also succeeded. Music was bold and full, while speech seemed concise and well-rendered.

Effects appeared accurate and dynamic, with terrific low-end. I felt pleased with this exciting soundtrack.

As we shift to extras, we launch with an audio commentary from director Peyton Reed and writer Jeff Loveness. Both sit together for this running, screen-specific look at story/characters, cast and performances, sets and production design, music, various effects, influences, and related domains.

In the positive side, Loveness and Reed ensure we get a brisk chat. They keep things light and give us a mix of useful notes.

However, Reed and Loveness can lean toward fluff too much of the time. That makes this a reasonably informative chat but not a great one.

Two featurettes follow, and All In the Family runs seven minutes, 28 seconds. It brings info from Reed, producer Stephen Broussard, and actors Paul Rudd, Kathryn Newton, Evangeline Lilly, and Michelle Pfeiffer.

Here we look at characters/story as well as cast and performances. A few insights emerge but a lot of the program feels fluffy.

Formidable Foes goes for 11 minutes, 36 seconds and involves Rudd, Broussard, Reed, Loveness, Lilly, producer Kevin Feige and actor Jonathan Majors.

“Foes” looks at the movie’s scope and villains as well as cast/performances. Like “Family”, “Foes” mixes useful notes with superficial praise.

Two Deleted Scenes ensue: “Drink the Ooze” (1:55) and “I Have Holes” (1:04). These don’t offer actual cut scenes, as instead, they show existing sequences without CG character animation on top of David Dastmalchian’s performance. That makes the shots fun but insubstantial.

Finally, we get a Gag Reel that spans one minute, 52 seconds and delivers the standard goofs and giggles. Don’t expect much from it, though we do get a few funny asides.

Though the weakest of the franchise, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania nonetheless offers a reasonably entertaining adventure. Despite a mix of missteps, the final product still largely works. The Blu-ray comes with very good picture and audio as well as a decent array of bonus features. It might be a step down, but Quantumania mostly succeeds.