It's not exactly a high-concept idea, but at least World Traveller Adventures (sic) occasionally manages to live up to its title. Essentially, what we have here is a selection of short films by young music fans---primarily of the techno/rave variety---as they travel across a handful of countries to spread their love of music to anyone who'll listen. Among other locales, you'll visit Italy, Senegal, Turkey, Bosnia and Iran---and to the credit of the filmmakers, we see a more warts-and-all approach. There's a very obvious message here, but the footage is shot objectively (something that not all "documentaries" have a habit of doing).

Unfortunately though, the total package actually adds up to less than the sum of its parts. It starts a bit awkwardly and gradually picks up steam, but you'd have to be a huge fan of the rave culture to find everything interesting. As a strict outsider, I found World Traveller Adventures to be very flat in execution---not really dull and boring per se, but there's not much in the way of variety here (save for the background, of course). This selection of short films also suffers from low production values: though a few of them aren't that bad, you'll be rubbing your eyes after awhile. This compilation includes four short films, which are presented in the following order:

23-Minute Warning: It's not the most ideal introduction for more casual viewers, since the aptly-named "Warning" starts things off in a very abrasive fashion. Here, the group known as "Spiral Tribe" invades England---or at least rebels against its strict anti-rave laws. Needless to say, they don't write letters or form picket lines…they just turn up the volume. (23 minutes, duh!)

Storming Sarajevo: This next short was a bit more to my liking, as the British group "Desert Storm" attempts to bring music to the scarred country of Bosnia. Their truck breaks down in the snow, but they somehow manage to make the most of the situation. (30 minutes)

Mission to India: This slightly longer collection of footage---about two times as long as it really needed to be, actually---spans a handful of countries (Italy, Iran, Turkey and Pakistan) as the rowdy young music aficionados boogie down with the local Hindis. (41 minutes)

African Expedisound: It's the longest and "biggest" of the bunch, and thankfully looks a bit better than the others (more on that later). In any case, "Expedisound" follows a few truckloads of hippies with sound equipment as they hang out with the locals of Senegal and Mali. (52 minutes)

Overall, there's some good footage and some not-so-good footage, but one thing's for sure: World Traveller Adventures is pretty tough to get through in one sitting. If you're into the whole techno/rave scene and enjoy exotic locations, this one might be a bit more up your alley. For someone who bathes regularly and doesn't own any glow sticks, it's somewhat interesting but ultimately a little pointless. As a documentary fan, I appreciate the effort to show the viewers unique settings and locations, but the "love, peace and music" message of World Traveller Adventures could have gotten its point across in less than half the time. There's undoubtedly an audience out there who may enjoy this compilation of mini-films, but their uniformly low production values and disorganized presentation have a habit of grating on one's nerves long before the credits roll.

To make matters worse, the DVD presentation for World Traveller Adventures isn't anything to write home about, either. The technical presentation isn't even up to par by documentary standards, while the extras are practically nonexistent. The content itself runs long enough (roughly 150 minutes), though more variety would've made a world of difference. Let's look closer, shall we?

The audio portion isn't much better, unfortunately. Though the music comes through relatively clear during this standard 2.0 mix, the dialogue is quite muddled and incomprehensible in certain scenes (though this may be due to the varying degrees of accents on display). Optional English subtitles have only been provided during scenes where foreign languages are spoken, but they should've been available the whole way through. Overall, it's a flat experience that doesn't help matters any.

It gets even worse from here on out, since the non-anamorphic menu designs (seen above) are clunky and slow to navigate despite their simple layout. As seen in the left screen capture, each of these films is only playable on its own (with no chapter selections) and there aren't any set-up screens---of course, this means the optional English subtitles can only be activated during the short films. The packaging is also very nondescript, which will likely only attract those already familiar with the product. This one-disc release is housed in a standard white keepcase with no insert(s).

If you're not into it from the start, World Traveller Adventures will make for a very long 2 ½ hours---but that's not to say that it doesn't have an audience. Those familiar with the "project" may want to look further---especially since there's a decent amount of content for the price---but the sloppy DVD presentation prevents this from being anything other than a curiosity piece. Give it a rent if you must, but most documentary fans should have more solid material on their wish lists. Skip It.