Customer Reviews

Superman: Brainiac Attacks

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(51)

 

 

Unlike previous reviewers, I have actually gotten to see this mess, and let me just say that it is truly a disgrace to Superman: The Animated Series, and even writer Dwayne Capizzi's (of The Batman) other work.

When this was announced, and when the word came out that it would feature the original voice tallents for Superman and Lois (Tim Daly and Dana Delaney), fans of Superman and especially that wonderful and under-rated 90's cartoon show were estatic. Finally, this great version of Superman was getting his own animated movie!

Or so we thought.

As more details poured in, fans got more and more skeptical. Fan-favorite villains Lex Luthor and Braniac (Clancy Brown and Corey Burton) were recast. It was to be written by Dwayne Capizzi, of The Batman, an almost universally reviled anime-inspired version of the Dark Knight. What little pleasure that show ever had for me was in its kinetic animation, the writing was always atrocious and simplistic.

This is ten times worse. How this man can type out some of the lines in this movie is amazing. Lines like Lex Luthor saying "I'm happy! Oh, wait, no...I'm saaaaad!" or even telling Superman as he battles Brainiac "I'm rooting for you, my man!" is incredible. It's ten times more kiddie and stupid than any awful episode of The Batman.

The animation is rubbery and, for the most part, poor. Characters rarely look the same way in different scenes.

This DVD has been cropped to Fullscreen for some inexplicable reason since it was made in widescreen for a direct-to-video release.

I wont spoil details of the story for those who care, but suffice it to say that it makes the infamous movie "Batman and Robin" look absolutely brilliant.

All in all, this is not a movie, but a corporate product, perhaps an ad for the upcoming "Superman Returns" movie. Luckily, that film looks much better than this pile of garbage.

This is probably the last time that this version of Superman will be animated. Given the result, it makes it that much more sad.

You know who you are. You are the kind of person who is going to buy DVDs related to to Bruce Timm's DC Animated Universe to have a complete collection of everything DCAU. Here are some questions that completists who have not seen Superman: Brainiac Attacks yet may ask themselves when thinking about whether or not to buy this DVD.

If you are not a geek feel free to ignore this review.

Q: All the reviews say it's really bad, but internet critics are ALWAYS unnessecarily harsh. Is it really THAT bad?

A: Yes, it is. Static Shock's "Hoop Squad" has always been widely considered the single worst thing to come out of the DCAU ever. This is only marginally related to the DCAU and it is roughly twenty times worse. Sixty if you consider it's 22 minute running time one of "Hoop Squad"'s virtues. It is a pile of dried monkey vomit.

Q: But I want a complete DCAU collection!

A: The movie only uses character designs and some of the voices from the old Superman cartoon but it flatly contradicts things that have come before in the DCAU. Lex Luthor and Brainiac act INCREDIBLY out of character (buffoonish and melodramatic respectively) and the movie is at complete odds with how the Fortress of Solitude and Phantom Zone are portrayed on the old show.

Q: CAN it fit into the DCAU if I REALLY tried to make it?

A: I suppose you could come up with explainations for everything and wedge it into it if you really wanted to but it fits about as well as Teen Titans and Krypto the Superdog. Only those two cartoons are cool.

Q: Is Bruce Timm or any of the major creative forces of the DCAU involved?

A: None of the major creators are involved. It is written by Dwayne Capizzi of The Batman fame.

Q: Is it considered official canon by the fans or the creators?

A: The is a near-consensus of DCAU fans who don't believe it can fit. The DTV's writer, The Batman's Duane Capizzi has stated in an interview that it is NOT in continuity with the DCAU, probably in a desperate attempt to get people to keep an open mind about this abomination. Or as I said, monkey vomit.

Q: Well, even if it ISN'T DCAU I plan to buy every single cartoon DVD related to a DC property ever so where should I put it on my priorities list?

A: After The Batman season sets, Superfriends season sets, and the movie Scooby Doo Meets Batman but BEFORE The Batman or Superfriends single disc releases.

Q: Hey, The Batman isn't THAT bad. In fact, Duane Capizzi wrote The Batman versus Dracula and that was pretty cool.

A: Any talent Capizzi showed in the Dracula movie is missing here. Brainiac Attacks is worse than almost every episode of The Batman.

Q: Does the DVD at least come with any interesting extras?

A: Only a batch of trailers that can be found on both the superior Superman: The Animated Series Volume Three and Justice League Season Two sets. You'll be better off buying those.

Q: Sigh. Well, shouldn't I buy this anyways? Justice League Unlimited has been cancelled and there are no new real DCAU projects in the pipeline. Won't skipping this just send a message to Warner Bros. Animation that nobody ever wants to see new DCAU material again?

A: There is no easy answer for this. It's the ultimate no-win scenario for DCAU fans. If we DON'T buy it we may never see any new DCAU stuff again. If we DO buy it, it sends a message to Warner Home Video that they can release sub-standard DCAU related stuff with no imput from the creative forces that made it great. I reccommend using your money to buy the season sets of Batman, Superman, Batman Beyond and Justice League. It will tell WHV there is still a huge audience for this franchise without letting them think they can get away with quicky cheap-o releases designed for four year olds who frankly have much better children's programming options. And to be honest, if the only new "DCAU" projects we get in the future are on the same level as Brainiac Attacks I would just rather not see anything new from this franchise.

Not to jump on the band-wagon here, but I would have to agree with the other reviewers. Had I purchased this instead of waiting for the "free view" on Cartoon Network I would be of all men, most miserable. I absolutely love Batman, Batman Beyond, Superman and Justice League and this production was a huge disappointment. The Luthor and Braniac voices were awful...the story was weak...buy the second season of Justice League instead.

I've got to agree with other reviewers on how bad this is.
It's so bad I feel compelled to write my first review just to warn people away!

Like so many others here, I enjoy "Batman: the Animated Series", "Superman: the Animated Series", and "Justice League" in all its incarnations, so it makes me very sad to say: There is just nothing to like about this movie.

The characters are very poorly written: Lex Luthor is portrayed as a clown (and not even a scary one!). Superman doesn't seem to have any idea how to fight an enemy other than fly at him and try to smash him.

The plot takes bizarre twists out of nowhere, such as a trip to the Phantom Zone, and a wholly unnecessary sub-plot featuring Jimmy Olson(!) in a fight with Luthor's leggy limo driver.

And don't start me on the voice work. While I respect Lance Henriksen, he just doesn't work for Brainiac. Brainiac sounds like he smokes cigarettes here, for crying out loud.

If you're thinking of buying this movie, do yourself a favor and buy "Justice League" or "Superman: the Animated Series" instead.

I hate to have to agree with many of the other reviewers, but, upon adding this film to my Superman:The Animated Series collection, all that worked for me was the ACTION, the return of original voice talents of TIM DALY and DANA DELANY, and the fact that this marks the 1st Superman animated movies. The action was there, however, Duane Capizzi does an even bigger hatchet job on Superman via the storyline than he did on The Batman series...Lex Luthor cracking jokes? Braniac showing a sense of emotion? Get real? Powers Boothe, known for his portrayal of Jim Jones in the Guyana Tragedy, would've made a perfect replacement as Lex Luthor had it not been for the mediocre sense of humor...Boothe was abused in my opinion, and Lance Henriksen would've been perfect for any role but Braniac's...the original voice talent reminded me of Mr. Freeze from the 90's Batman series...cold, calloused, calculated, no emtions,etc...Braniac, in this film was laughing. No way.

To make a long story short, this one's only for die hard fans of Superman vol. 1-3 and for completists like myself. Otheriwse, you may want to rent this one first. A better investment would be Superman:The Animated Series vol 1-3, Justice League, The Complete Classic Superman(1940's) or even The Tick vs Season One for that matter.

True it doesn't have the same DBZ kind of action that is fluent in the new series "THE Batman" (thank god), it still lacks the 2 things I always enjoyed in a Superman Cartoon: Good Writing and Lex Luthor NOT being an idiot. It completely ignores the kind of power that was created by Bruce Timm in the Superman and Justice League series and goes on to have Luthor throwing a Hawaiian Themed Party.... Now I don't claim to be a supervillain, but I'm sure I could think of a better, more villainy way to celebrate my mortal enemy's demise. Not only that, Brainiac seems to lose sight of his goals of information absorb and destroy and just wants to bash stuff in a very Godzilla like way. The writers obviously fell into the classic trap, "Superman must smash big things in order for show to be awesome" (the bad grammar was to show my distaste for their ingenuity). I'm sure if they gave me the same amount of money to write a script or at least come up with a better idea then Lex Luthor and brainiac team up and brainiac smashes stuff and shoots kryptonite beams. The whole thing seemed to be an attempt to cash in on Superman's glorious return to the big screen, and in the wake of the cancelation of JLU and Teen Titans, they cannot reap the benefits like this one can. Did anyone else think of Superman 3 when they saw brainiac in the super suit? I know I did. And that's the reason it should get 0. No offense to Richard Prior.

I picked this up before reading the reviews (big mistake!) because the Superman TAS and Justice League series have been so strong. I have since read some of the other reviews, and I agree with the criticism this "movie" has received. I just want to make a few points in the hopes that some of you will avoid my mistake.

*The voice acting was TERRIBLE. As was noted earlier, Superman and Lois are voiced by Tim Daly and Dana Delany, but Lex sounds terrible!

*The plot and dialog are possibly the worst I've ever seen in an animated series--and I've seen real winners like "Pokemon" and "Pac-Man". This, combined with the recasting of key voices, the overall effect makes a viewer think that the show isn't actually part of the Batman/Superman/JL continuity. Put more bluntly, this is so bad, you don't think you're actually watching Superman--it feels like you're actually watching some kid's animation project.

*Nothing new is introduced, and nothing changes with the character. I thought about this for a long time, and this story lacks any dialog or plot elements that would place it in any kind of sequence with the other stories. We don't see any critters in Superman's Fortress of Solitude. Lex Luthor makes no references to his relationship with Brainiac. Lois' remarks about Superman don't indicate how close she's been with him. (WARNING: SPOILER!) In fact, Superman's big revelation is that Lois likes danger whether he's around or not! He's just figuring that out NOW?!? (END OF SPOILER)

If you're thinking that you still want to suffer through this experience to see for yourself, please understand this: I could write PAGES detailing just how bad this is. Just don't do it to yourself. I still wish I could go back in time and smack myself for even thinking about buying this.

Let me start by saying.. that the meter wouldn't let me give it Bullets. This thing isn't worthy of 1 star. It's worthy of 5 Bullets, and that really isn't enough. The title alone should tell you how bad this thing is. They couldn't even think up something catchy, no.. we get the amazingly bad title "Brainiac Attacks". Maybe someone thought this was a cute spoof on "Mars Attacks!" Someone get some monkeys with typewriters. One of them's bound to come up with something better than "Brainiac Attacks."


This movie has NO redeeming qualities whatsoever. The acting is attrocious. Lex acts like a complete dork, Brainiac shows.. EMOTION???? Superman acts like the worst aspects of Terry (from Batman Beyond). He even steals one of Terry's lines from Justice League (Epilouge) When he questions telling Dana that he is Batman, and Amanda Waller basically yells at him about it. The whole bit about putting her in danger yada yada. This is a complete rehash from that episode, except JLU was better done.

The lack of Bruce Timm's influence shows in this horrible creation that should be burned rather than be released to the public. The storyline makes little to no sense, the characters don't remotely follow the established DCU cartoon formulas or personalities.

First off the timeline doesn't match up with anything. I guess this occurs somewhere between the end of TAS and the beginning of JLU but it's hard to say since there's no real matchups anywhere.

Secondly the characters.. yeah it's better if I just compare them to their TAS counterparts.

Lex - Corperate joker as opposed to Hard Nosed, No Nonsense, Businessman who can weasel his way out of anything. The mistake this Lex makes in the end the REAL Lex would have NEVER made. Nor would Lex in the presumed timeline (ie before JLU) ever put himself in danger or be concerned that the military might not like his weapons designs. I mean come on.. this is primarily what Lexcorp does..

Mercy - Goes from hard edged, highly intelligent bodyguard who doesn't take crap off anyone (even Lex) to bad rendition of Harley Quinn.

Brainiac - Oh dear lord. Brainiac engaging in Combat Banter? Who the heck is he The Joker? Someone call Mark Hamill he's going to be voicing Jokeiac now. With such classic lines as "I've got Brawn to go with my brains now" Brainiac goes from soulless emotionless source of evil to second rate thug in a robot shell. Spider-Man does quippish combat dialog, not Brainiac.

Other little things bugged me like, oh Brainiac isn't the core of the Fortress of Solitude, like part of him is in TAS and JLU.

Brainiac should already possess all the knowledge of Krypton. In the established continuity he harasses Superman with the fact that he's the only other survivor of Krypton. Why does he need all this knowledge again?

Another thing.. Brainiac calls him Kal-El not The Son of Krypton.

The Phantom Zone.. Umm.. how exactly does Superman get in there without a projector? Since when could he just randomly open portals into the Phantom Zone?

If the fans can remember continuity SURELY the writers of this dreck could have bothered to do something that resembles research and at least made us feel like they were trying? Hmm? Too much to ask apparently.

Jimmy thinking Mercy is hot? Well sure she is.. but.. when exactly did Jimmy develop a crush on her.. and how exactly did when he was shown snapping a photo of Lex with Brainiac in his hand (Lex is slicker than that by the way, not this 2 bit Con Artist crap they were doing with him) did this photo fail to appear in Jimmy's pile?

Mercy's stockings randomly disappearing. At least I assume that's what that shading on her legs that kept randomly disappearing was supposed to be, and she did wear black (grey?) stockings in TAS so I presume that's what that was supposed to be.

The dialouge.. oh god.. the dialouge. YEE GODS I've heard better dialouge in the 1920's versions of Superman.

The animation was jerky, clipped, and while it met with the basics of the style of the old TAS series, you could see where there was clear and evident further devolving in the quality from the TAS series. In both shape of the characters who are blockier than ever, and the smoothness of the animation which was about as smooth as a pothole laden backstreet in that part of town you don't want to go to anyway.

Anyway I digress the DVD this thing is on isn't worth replacing your free AOL disc as a coaster. (At least that was free). Show DC Studios that we won't accept this sort of paltry nonsense from them and DO NOT BUY THIS DVD. If you're a true fan of the TAS series, you're doing yourself a favor.

Superman The Animated Series was a spectacular show that took many ideas from the Superman mythos and added a whole new spin to them. Paul Dini and Co. put together a terrific show that featured a great cast, fantastic stories with both familiar and new villians, and gave us a series that immediately took a special place in our hearts. Tim Daily voiced Superman, while known actor Clancy Brown gave us an incredible aristocratic sinister Lex Luthor. Then, in 1998, Superman TAS came to an end with the epic series finale, "Legacy." Superman would then appear in the Batman Beyond episode, "The Call," which featured a futuristic version of the Justice League, which then lead into Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, which just finished up. A few months ago, in getting ready for Superman Returns, WB announced they were bringing our animated boy scout back with his first animated direct to video feature. It was an exciting announcement to hear, but now, after seeing the movie, WHAT THE HELL WERE THEY DOING??!!

The plot was terrible, if that is what you could call it. The music was average, the dialog was attrocious, and my god, the voice acting felt like it came from some 80s anime dub. First off, Luthor is voiced by Powers Boothe instead of Clancy Brown, and boy, how terrible he was. Powers played Gorilla Grodd in Justice League, but for some reason, he sounds more like some low rank amateur in the voice acting department here. Luthor was already out of character the moment the movie started, but this guy made Luthor sound more like a fool than a villian. Next up is Brainiac, who also had a new voice actor (Bishop from Aliens), and Lance seemed like he was trying to sound like the Manhunters from JL rather Brainiac, and he was even worse than Luthor in the acting department. In fact, the only characters that didn't seem to have new voices were Superman (Tim Daily is back, but he must have left his skills with Legacy), Lois, Perry, and the Kents. Jimmy sounds similar, but Mercy sounds like some dumb blonde out of California.

The movie did have its good points, like the scenes that did not have Luthor or Brainiac in it, of course, that was probably maybe a good 15-20 minutes total, if that.

Overall, this movie is just plain out bad. Were they even trying to put a story together, or did WB just want some junk put out in time for Returns? I don't know. If this is where the DC universe is headed now that JLU is over, then I am quite pleased it is done. I cannot give this movie anything more than a 2/5 stars, and that is being kind to it.

Oh, and the special features are just a bunch of trailers.

There is nothing about this movie that is even close to average, the storyline maybe. Someone else was cast as the voice of Lex Luthor and Brainiac, and it really stands out in a negative way. Lex Luthor is a bumbling buffoon, with terrible lines, horribly written. The animation is off, not terrible but different. This animated film from top to bottom is just plain bad. Save yourself the money and time. This is worse that Joel Schumacher's Batman & Robin bad.