Rating:  -
I was extremely disappointed in this. I am a huge Superman fan and find it difficult to beleive that the story could not have followed the original line. I appreciate the effort and I was excited when I learned of the movie, then I saw it...ahhhh... if you are not going to say true to the story line then please...DONT BOTHER!
Rating: -
Maybe we're all spoiled by the excellent work over the past decade. This certainly isn't as good as the animated Superman, Batman, and Justice League that were televised. Not even close....
Rating:  -
Far, far better than any of the live-action films. It had its flaws, the primary one being its length; it was too short to really hammer home the emotion of any of its three distinct stories (death, mourning, and rebirth).
I'll admit, particularly with the similar-but-not-quite art style, I was reticent to give up my affection for the DCAU (not to be confused with the DCU Animated Films banner, of which this is the first; Justice League: The New Frontier is next). While the idea of Adam Baldwin as Superman and James Marsters as Lex appeals to the Whedon fan inside me, they simply didn't own their parts the way George Newburn (liked him better than Tim Daly) and Clancy Brown did in the DCAU. Anne Heche was mostly forgettable as Lois, neither bad nor good, but to her credit, her scene with Martha Kent was heartbreaking.
The action was fantastic. Brutal, dirty, and violent, just as a fight between two (well, three, I suppose) titanic figures should be. I'd love to see the first third of this expanded and developed as the next live-action Superman movie, ending with Superman's death (oh, he'll of course be resurrected in the next movie, but it would be awesome). Unfortunately, as I mentioned earlier, the quick pace robs the story of much of the emotional complexity. Though, on second thought, that may not be the culprit. Justice League flirted with the idea of killing Superman in the "Hereafter" two-parter, and it was handled beautifully. There, you actually felt the loss experienced by the world; here, Superman gets a perfunctory funeral and has "returned" five minutes later. In hindsight, I blame the writing.
Still, it all comes together to form a fairly cohesive whole, and by focusing on the ancillary characters, makes Superman more interesting than he really has any right to be. Superman is most interesting when seen through the eyes of others; it's not his character, but the ideals he symbolizes that has kept him omnipresent for the last 70 years, and the movie wisely recognizes that.
Once again, DC has destroyed Marvel in the field of animation. Sure, it's not Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, or Justice League Unlimited, but it's somewhere up there. Some day Marvel might actually stumble upon their own Bruce Timm, but until then, I have faith that the man will continue making hands-down the best superhero animations known to man.
Rating:  -
Done in a style reminiscent of Justice League - Season One (DC Comics Classic Collection), this story was inspired by The Death and Return of Superman Omnibus. For those who read the original story or have picked up the omnibus, it's important to note that this 78 minute movie was only INSPIRED by the original source -- it's not a retelling of the story. If anything, it's an Elseworlds telling of the Death of Superman, given that there are no Justice League to help Superman fight Doomsday, nor characters such as Steel and the other "Supermen" to deal with the aftermath of the fight.
Some times, especially early in the film, the audience is hit over the head quite hard about the morality of some characters. Lex Luthor, you know, is EEEVIL. Doomsday is EEEVIL. Yeah, we get it.
If you can separate this story from the original source, the movie is enjoyable enough, though it does have streaks of unevenness. Most of that unevenness lies with Lex's character. He doesn't seem to have the depth of intelligence in this film that the character does in all other media (yes, even Challenge of the Super Friends, Volumes 1-2 (DC Comics Classic Collection)). The fight with Doomsday also falls very flat. People know the outcome, but the emotional drama that goes with it wasn't there. It also finished awfully early in the film for a movie called "Superman Doomsday".
It was, in my mind, worth the $3.99 Unbox rental, but I wouldn't go out to buy it. From reading other reviews, I would have liked to have seen the extras on the disc, but not that badly. If, however, you hold the original source sacred, I would avoid this movie because it will lead to nothing but disappointment.
Rating: -
First off I really thought this show overall was pretty good. Much more adult orientated. The biggest problem I have is all the voice changes. I mean the same actors were used throughout Batman the Animated Series, then the Superman Series, and ongoing into the Justice League animated series. But for some reason the makers of this show decided like many American animation projects to get big name actors versus the actors that made these characters who we loved or loved to hate. Clancy Brown did a wonderful job as the voice of Lex Luthor, now they have some crappy wimpy sounding Lex Luthor. WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT? Keep the team of voice actors that gave us fans what we wanted.
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