Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Superman / Doomsday

Up until Batman Begins if you wanted to find a decent representation of your favourite DC super heroes in a medium outside the pages of the comics you turned to animation.  Superman/Doomsday the most recent release from the Warner Brother's Animation Studios certainly continues the excellent trend started by such shows as the Batman Animated Series, Batman Beyond, Justice League Unlimited and many other DCU projects.  This full length feature is more inspired by the events of the epic Death/Reign of Superman story arcs then a straight adaptation of the original story as it appeared in the comics.   This refashioned tale works to combine two very long stories into a nice tight 2 hour package.  However, do not think that the tale suffers due to this condensation.  In many ways it makes for a far more focused and compelling tale.  I especially enjoy the changes made to the second half of the film which deals with Superman's return after his apparent defeat at the hands of Doomsday.   I even feel as if they explain how Superman returned from the dead in a some what more believable fashion even though it bares quite similar to the comics in that regard.   I wont talk too much about the story as I'd like you all to see it

for yourself with no spoliers.  However, I can say what is done very right about this movie.  The battle between Superman and Doomsday is amazing.  This is as brutal and ferocious as the comics depict and a PG-13 rating will allow.  Doomsday is down right terrifying.  Just as he should be.  I also enjoyed the way that the Superman, Clark and Lois's relationship is handled.  Finally, the animated version of Lex Luthor shines as one of the most evil incarnations of the bald headed xenophobe in existence.   If you are a fan of the Man of Steel (Garvey and Alex) you must at least see this, if not add it to your collection immediately.   All in all a great movie.  I highly recommend it!    

 

4 comments:

Mike Garvey said...

I'm really looking forward to this one. I was so disappointed with the new Batman cartoon - the older animated series was just too much to live up to, I guess. At least Avatar starts up again this week...

Beers said...

You will love it! I can't say enough good things about how they portray Doomsday. The way they redo the return of Superman to give Lex a HUGE role in the story arc is great. MORE LEX THE BETTER!

Mike Garvey said...

The comic book really lacked in that area too. They really tried to make it so big, so all-consuming, that they ended up sacrificing plot.

I see that James Marsters took over as Luthor - is he really better than Clancy Brown?

Beers said...

As far as how Marsters compares to Brown, i guess all I can say is that I enjoyed Marsters performance. It is pretty good and a very convincing Lex. Better then the Brown LEX? Lets just say, that I didn't feel the movie suffered from the change.