Superman: Doomsday

I enjoyed the first half of the movie, but the second half was a little disappointing. I won't say any spoilers though, you gotta watch this movie yourself

This movie made a lot of what is incredible in the (now well-established) DC animated universe possible. it marks the beginning of DC/Warner’s realization that the audience for their films was not children, but loyal, long-time comic book fans. The fruits of this realization are evident in films like BATMAN YEAR 1 and SUPERMAN/BATMAN - PUBLIC ENEMIES. It’s clear, watching this film again several years later, that Bruce Timm and his excellent team learned a lot from SUPERMAN: DOOMSDAY’s successes and failures. All of it was implemented going forward, which gives me even greater respect for the subsequent work of these artists. There are blunders here: the film lacks humor. The design work (particularly the faces) is overly serious and stilted. The decision to streamline the source storyline of 4 potential reborn Supermen (“Reign of the Supermen”) into only one is disappointing to fans of the source material and ultimately anticlimactic. The decision to give Lex Luthor a uniform look of white suit and turtleneck throughout the entire timeline diminishes his realism and is insulting to an adult sensibility for differentiating the leading players. However - this film is a big leap from an art form based in Saturday morning cartoons. It’s risky to make an animated film that people will be leaving their homes seeking out and purchasing or renting (as we did not too long ago) - who knew if this format would work or survive? I’m happy to say it has survived and flourished, thanks to this team’s adaptiveness and this film’s strengths. The emotional impact of this story survives here, thanks to strong actors and excellent voice direction from Andrea Romano. The core of what Superman represents is explored and honored from an adult perspective, perhaps even canonized for a new generation. Most importantly that core is in the writing and in the performances. This film opens a door, and the work that came after, a deeper exploration of our modern myth, would not have been possible without this beginning.

I understand why it doesn't follow the comics more closely. I mean come on it took better than a year's worth of comic books 4 seperate story lines; Eradicator superman, Clone Cadmus super(boy)man, John Iorns Steel Superman suit, Evil Cyborg Hank Hensaw fake superman. The intertwining of all 4 and then the return of Kal-El(Clark Kent). Making a cartoon Movie that stayed true to all of that wouldn't have been a movie it would have been a serial of 3 or 4 movies or an entier season of cartoons in Justice league all by itself. They took the idea of the story and reworked it so it could be told in one show. Yes it is no where near the original story but still a good watch at least once.

Yes, I know die-hard Superman fans hate this movie because it doesn't stick with the comics. But it's like what? Seventy-six minutes? How can you fit a Superman arc that was countless issues long? Especially since all of them are separate graphic novels and the final chapter is longer than the first two combined. Yes, they did separate the adaptation of "The Dark Knight Returns" in two separate movies, but that's only because it's considered to be one of the 100 Greatest Graphic Novels of all time. So what makes me think this way? Let me explain. "Batman: Year One" is also considered one of the greatest comics. But when they made an adaptation about it, they stuck too closely to the original story. The result was a movie that was a total train wreck (I'll talk about that later). So there are times when sticking too closely to a comic can ruin the movie. So what makes me like this movie? Unlike some of the other DC Animated Movies, there's more filler, which means there's a lot of buildup to an action scene. Heck, this movie only has two, and the first one is the longest in any of these movies! The fight between Superman and Doomsday sticks with the fact that it's nothing but slugfest, which is one of the things that makes "The Death of Superman" one of the best selling graphic novels. As I said earlier, sticking too closely too the original story can ruin a movie. But there are also times when mixing the plot, but still sticking with the story can actually make a movie work. This movie has a totally different story, but somehow works out fine. Like the way people grieve Superman when he dies. A news reporter says that the country misses him the way with JFK when he died. Or how Jimmy Olsen takes on a job at another newspaper. The voice acting isn't bad either. James Marsters as Lex Luthor is my favorite though there are times when his dialogue can be awkward. If there were a problem, I'd have to say that one shot in the movie isn't edited well. They put effort in editing this building as Bruce Timm or some other guy said in the audio commentary. But they could have taken time with that shot. But of course, it's not a huge flaw. So overall, this is one of my favorites. Rent it and decide for yourself.

Amassing

The fight in Metropolis between superman and Doomsday was epic in the comic. In this one doomsday dies about a third of the way into it. I wish they hadnt made this movie. Now the superman doomsday fight will never be done right!! Brandon Vietti and Bruce Timm, I HATE YOU both for making this.! Instead of a decent translation of the best selling comicbook of all time it feels like they squished way too much into 1 hour and 17 minutes. For some reason that I cant quite pin down this movie reminds me of the starwars prequels...

Awesome movie

It seems like a PG-13 ratied movie, but the action is awesome. And Lex Luthor is totally cool being the villain.

Awesome movie

This movie is a poor telling of a great story line.