Rating:  -
Received a copy of Brainiac Attacks from my son-in-law to be given to my grand kids. I like to check the reviews before I let them look at movies. The vehemence of some of the reviews were amazing. The movie was definitly a 4, entertaining and most importantly appropriate to the audience, children up to age seven or eight, The phrase "get a life" comes to mind when rereading some of the more vitrolic responses. As a sixty-five year old granddad who first met Superman as a comic book hero and have seen all the variatilons on the theme, Brainiac is just fine for the age of the audience, maybe it should be labeled "Not for children with a double diget age or an adult with a double diget IQ, For truth, justice and the American Way! R. Hemenez
Rating:  -
Approximately 6 years after the end of the Warner Brothers' "Superman: The Animated Series" and months after Cartoon Network wrapped up the final season of "Justice League Unlimited", the WB felt it was time to tap into the `Man of Steel' for another adventure, conveniently around the time "Superman Returns" was set to debut in theaters.
"Superman: Braniac Attacks" begins with Lex Luthor (voiced by Powers Boothe) becoming increasingly angered by Superman's (voiced by Tim Daly) heroic successes and rising popularity amongst the masses of Metropolis. Lex proceeds to form a dangerous alliance with the villain known as Braniac (voiced by Lance Henriksen), using advanced weaponry and a unique strain of Kryptonite, Lex retrofits Braniac with a new body that will allow him to defeat the `Man of Steel'. However, Lex fails to realize that Braniac isn't going to just obey Lex's orders, instead he has his own plans for Superman and the rest of the world. To stop these two villains, Superman must use all his abilities and even brave a trip into the mysterious Phantom Zone before all hope is lost.
After Warner Brothers decided on making this movie, essentially as a tie-in to the release of Bryan Singer's epic "Superman Returns", they were faced with a small quandry. Who would voice `The Last Son of Krypton'? In "Superman: The Animated Series" the voice of Superman was provided by actor Tim Daly; however, in "Justice League Unlimited" the character's voice was that of actor George Newbern. So, which actor would bring our hero to life, in the end the choice was made to bring back Tim Daly, which made sense because this movie was to be a spin-off of Superman's own animated series rather than "Justice League Unlimited". Though the choice to bring Tim Daly back as the voice for Superman, along with Dana Delany as Lois Lane made perfect sense, one decision that made no sense was the recasting of the voice for Lex Luthor (previously voiced by Clancy Brown in both "Superman: The Animated Series" and "Justice League Unlimited"), in "Superman: Braniac Attacks" they chose to use actor Powers Boothe ("Sin City" and "Sudden Death"). Though Boothe is a solid actor, and had Clancy Brown's voice not been so recognizable as Lex's, the choice to make the switch wouldn't have been that bad, but after almost a decade of the same actor voicing the character, I can't help but question the logic here.
The movie as a whole was only average, truthfully I expected much more from this film. Again, this was due to the fact that the writing for both animated series' was of such high quality that anything less is disappointing. For some reason, the creators of either animated series were not used in any way, so the tone feels completely different, and for the most part the movie appears to be aimed at little kids rather than both kids and adults as the other series' have been. Really the first half of the movie is somewhat childish, with stupid little one-liners or lame jokes by Lex or other characters, but the second half really brings the story together, and it begins to feel focused and more mature in tone. The animation was solid for the most part, a few sequences were weak and felt rushed, but these were few and far between. Like I said before, the problems with this movie I believe was due to the movie being rushed so that it could meet the release date a week prior to the release of "Superman Returns" in theaters.
All in all, though the movie isn't the greatest, it's not horrible either. If you're a fan of either of the animated series' featuring Superman, then you should at least give the movie a try, it's at least worth watching once.
"Superman: Braniac Attacks" is unrated and is suitable for all ages.
Rating: -
Not Bad, But Not Great...
Well, I just bought Superman: Brainiac Attacks this past weekend. Let me tell you that I was looking forward to a fresh new Superman cartoon. But that did not happen.
I want to quickly touch upon "wacky Lex." I think that Luther was written poorly, and you notice right a way that his voice is not the same as it was in the TV show. He's modeled after the Richard Donner version of Lex Luthor, from the Superman live-action features. Writer Duane Capizzi even says so. He says that while the movie has the look of the Bruce Timm animated series, it's a stand alone movie that can be considered out of continuity, and draws influences from many different aspects of the Superman lore. Does that excuse the final product? No. But for those hardcore Timm-fans looking for an excuse to ignore this movie, there it is.
The story is not bad, but not great, more jokes in this movie that the TV show, but the overall story is nothing to write home about, maybe you should send a postcard insted. As for the plot, don't bother trying to fit it into Superman: The Animated Series. It won't work. I know fans have bent over backwards to make everything fit in the DCAU continuity, but I wouldn't bother with this one. Just don't..
Over all, a wasted opportunity....
Rating:  -
Tim Daly returns as the voice of Clark/Superman--the only good news for this entire movie. The loss of Clancy for Lex Luthor was bad enough, but to make him a campy comic relief that's not worthy of a 6 year old's sense of humor adds insult to injury. DO NOT BUY THIS! I wouldn't even rent it. If Curt Geda has any sense at all, he'd drop this new line/direction they're trying to take Superman Animated and stick with what worked. They haven't targeted a fickle kid audience, so give up on the changes and for the love of god, look back at what you've done and at least bring back the theme music used before!!!! Curt Geda, if you ever see these reviews, this was the greatest disappontment I've ever experienced in the Superman genre.
Rating:  -
as usual, great action & superman is the man. but, luthor is way too goofy compared to the series & brainiac actually has emotions, which takes away from his appealing detachment. probably why lex or brainy's voices had to be recasted. Stll like Powers Boothe anyway.
this is coming from a long time comic & cartoon fan, you guys can do better.
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