Customer Reviews

Superman: Doomsday [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(65)
4 star:		(75)
3 star:		(63)
2 star:		(39)
1 star:		(59)

 

 

The first in a line of straight to DVD animated features adapted from classic DC stories, Superman: Doomsday re-tells the much maligned Death of Superman saga from the early 90's in animated form, and despite what many of the negative reviews here say otherwise, it works. The Man of Steel (voiced by Serenity's Adam Baldwin) is in love with Lois Lane (voiced quite stiffly by Anne Heche) and both are enjoying their relationship, until his world is rocked by the arrival of the murderous creature Doomsday, who is inadvertantly let loose by Lex Luthor (Buffy the Vampire Slayer's James "Spike" Marsters). If you've read the comics, you know what happens next, but the animated feature wisely ignores the Reign of the Supermen part of the arc, in place of an imposter created by Luthor, which results in an apocalyptic showdown. Being the first in a line of newly animated features, don't go into this expecting something among the lines of the DC animated series' that had come before it. The animation itself looks similar to what we've seen before (veteran animator Bruce Timm is heavily involved here), but the tone is noticibly different. The voice acting is solid (Marsters is magnificent as Luthor, while Baldwin is servicable as Superman) and the action is nicely orchestrated as well, all of which makes Superman: Doomsday an animated treat. This new two-disc edition has a few new features, including episodes from the underrated 90's Superman animated series, but there isn't anything else here that really warrants getting double-dipped for.

There's good stuff to recommend in this DVD, but there are some awfully big caveats I feel one should know before buying:

1.) Straight-to-video titles rarely have the production values of theatrical animated releases, so know going in that the animation is no great shakes - a notch above the latest Superman and Justice League shows on Kids WB!, but not a huge step up by any means. There are some inspired moments of animation, but they are few and far between.

2.) Don't be taken in by the "PG-13" rating. I suppose slapping "PG-13" on it works to WB/DC's advantage, suggesting the movie is a "hard" Superman story that attracts the fanboys. But while it does contain some language, violence and themes that you'd never see on the Animated Series on TV, in relation to what you see in theatrical films, this is squarely "PG" all the way.

3.) There is no way they could cram in everything from the Death/Rebirth of Superman storylines into a 90-minute film. I doubt they could effectively squeeze it all into a 3-hour film. So there's no Justice League getting whupped by Doomsday, no Supergirl or "heroic" Lex Luthor II, no Steel or Superboy, no Cyborg and Mongul colluding to destroy Coast City. No Kryptonian War-Suit.

If you go in with all that in mind, the film isn't so bad. IMHO, they did a good job of condensing the essentials of the storyline into a single digestible story. Those who strive for continuity with the comic books need not apply. They did manage to include things like the Eradicator (kinda), how Metropolis deals with the absence of Superman, the pain of Lois and Martha not being able to grieve openly, Clark being resusicated in the Fortress, the black suit and long hair, and the issue of whether Metropolis would be better served by boy-scout Superman, or a darker, more violent protector. So it's not a total break with the comic storyline.

Some of the dialogue is cringe-inducing, and I really didn't like Anne Heche as Lois. I've always found her voice to be a bit grating. But I really enjoyed Adam Baldwin as Clark/Supes. There's a great scene with the film's version of the Eradicator, where he rescues a cat from a tree and talks about "sweating the small stuff". Watch for it - one of the best parts of the film.

The animation was really a bit of a let-down - given how far in advance they'd been hyping this release, I really was hoping for something a good bit better than an episode of the TV show. So I couldn't give this four stars. Still, I would have given it 3.5 if I could have, as the overall narrative is pretty solid.

If you really like the Animated Series, and/or really want to see a movie-like translation of the Death of Superman storyline, pick this up. All others might be advised to rent and watch before buying.

I read the book/graphic novel over ten years ago, if I remember. This isn't much like that at all. Superman fights something called Doomsday and dies, then comes back to life. That's about all that remains of the original story.
Gone are the side stories about Superboy and Steel, which were very cool IMHO. Gone also is the interesting story about how Superman came back to life. The mechanics behind how he does so in this DVD are completely different, from what I recall.
Not bad for a fun hour's watching, but don't expect this to be like the original story.
I wish they'd have made the movie of it like they'd planned :(

Phenomenal.

I can't even express how impressed i was with this movie.

Is it the comic? not really. does that matter? hell no. this movie is based on "The Death of Superman," yes, but they never said it would be exactly the same. did they follow the basic premise and capture the essence of the story? hell yes, they did. and they translated all the most important parts of the story while still making it their own.

denying the pure quality of the movie itself is just a practice in bad taste. keep in mind that most of the people who will bash this movie for not being an exact adaptation of the three graphic novels it pulls inspiration from are probably the same people who own all box-sets of S:TAS and consider them to be bar-setting quality in Superhero television. was S:TAS exactly like the comics? hell no. in fact, to compare them on those grounds is just rediculous... they're about as different as they can possibly be, without S:TAS destroying the superman comic mythos. the key is that they kept the important parts the same, and delivered high quality writing, animation, etc. while still being allowed to add their own flavor to the stories.

the route they took with this movie was, i think, perfect for what they were aiming to do. they wanted to bring the classic story to the screen without bogging it down with all of the unnecessary plot tangents that drag the focus off of Superman himself. because that's what's important. Superman's death is what sold those comics, not the inclusion of the JLA. and then, subsequently, Superman's return from death after much mourning is done by the Man of Steel's loved (and not so loved) ones. all of this was captured flawlessly in the film and i think it deserves the highest of ratings for what it accomplishes in it's relatively short running time (even though the sheer scope of it makes it feel far more substancial than any other 70-80 minute movie i've seen).

basically, to wrap up, this movie exceeded my already high expectations and as far as i'm concerned, they already have my money when the Dvd is released.

i highly recommend it and suggest that you, at the very least, rent it regardless of any doubts.

Finally a serius animated feature for the man of steel! This is by far the best after STAS. Theres a non-stop action that will keep every TRUE fan at the edge of the seat as you have never see Superman fighting so hard! Im glad Bruce Timm and the rest of the cast finally made a PG13 movie because many have said that Superman was for kids. This proves them wrong! The only reason i gave it 4 stars is because of the litle special features. Other than that is absolutely great!

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.

I enjoyed the story of the death and rebirth of Superman in its comics and then in its graphic novel format. It was an intriging year long comic book series The Death and Return of Superman Omnibus. However when it comes to the DVD version of this story, I felt it was slightly lacking the epicness and the scope that the original comics had

The news is not all that bad. The DVD does have the new voice talent that is totally different from the TV Superman the animated series. It has interest vocal casting. Firefly's Adam Baldwin brings a different edge to Superman. Claney Brown may have been Lex Luthor on The TV animated adventures, but James (Spike from Buffy) Marsters nailed it on this DVD. Anne Heche's vocal Lois Lane is the weakest link of this piece.

This DVD's animation seemed like a little like Jack Kirby style comic art, rather the S.T.A.S or the recent Justice League cartoon. However this PG-13 cartoon lacks the luster that this year long graphic novel series had. Th battle royale, told in shadow and crimson hues, is what gives this cartoon its PG-13 rating

Also the main part of the story arc in the graphic novel was "the funeral of a Friend" storyline..which was also mostly delete in this 75 minute adaptation. I understand that producer Bruce Timm ideal is to let this be a stand alone piece (basicly a Superman only piece), but what is missing for me was the world grieving as a collective in the story arc that this film did not use. Note not another superhero shows up in his funeral which would seem strange in a world filled with superheroes

On the whole, this piece as a stand alone was good, but very rushed. For 75 minutes they jam pack the film, I wish this was two hours and they took more time to give more story

I hope the Derwyn Cooke's The New Frontier (The Justice League)animated adaptation which comes out next year is fares better than this made for video animated DVD.

Bennet Pomerantz AUDIOWORLD

I bought this movie the week it came out because I loved the Doomsday storyline as a kid and since there is no live adaptation, I'll take this. I liked how the movie though not following the entire storyline still caught the emotion the storyline created when it first came out in print. Now if you are expecting to see the supermen, then you'll be dissappointed although it is a lot of fun watching the Superman Doomsday fight. The funeral was nice though it could have been longer. This is a good addition to the Superman films and shouldn't be counted out just because it doesn't follow panel by panel what you read in the comic. Also, take a peek at the extras with the team who came up with the story and see just how awesome it was to be around (or sad depending how you look at it) when Superman died! To those who say this movie sucks are just being biased because they have to have it one way or not at all. This is worth a peek and I think many will like how even though there was a lot left out but enough left in to create an enjoyable film.

I've been a comic book geek for what feels like forever. Some of my earliest memories are of being taken out to the local magazine store by my father and just pouring over all the different worlds there was that I could immerse myself in. In my collecting career, there were probably three moments that I'd consider real highlights. The first was the 'Knightfall' storyline when Bane broke Batman's back, the second was the 'Dark Phoenix' saga in the Marvel universe, and finally there was the 'Death of Superman.' Needless to say, when I found out a 'Superman-Doomsday' DVD was being developed; the nerd in me was doing cartwheels. I'm sorry to say that after seeing the finished product, I was left pretty let down.

I'll start with the animation itself. It's obvious that Bruce Timm's fingerprints were all over this. That being said, I'm scratching my head over the decision to set this outside the standard continuity of the Superman series that Timm helped to create. Clark Kent is drawn with these weird facial lines that I suppose was done to make him look a little older. The problem with this is why you would then de-age everyone else? Lois Lane, Lex Luthor, and the rest of the supporting cast seem to appear younger then they should. Why wouldn't you just use the same character template that the animated series used?

The voice acting was OK, but the cast had me (again) puzzled. I don't understand the choice not to bring in the original voice-actors (George Newbern or Tim Daly/ Dana Delany/ Clancy Brown), all of whom had been voicing the same roles for quite awhile now. Just as an example, I mentioned earlier that Lois Lane looks younger; Ann Heche was then the choice to lend her voice? Not that Heche didn't do a credible job, it's just that she "sounds" about as old as she probably is. Her voice didn't seem to fit her younger-looking avatar. Even the relationship between Lois and Superman "looked" odd now that they appeared to have such a pronounced age difference.

Reviewers had mentioned this before, but the storyline itself is butchered. Playing devil's advocate though, I understand a lot of these changes had to be made. In the comics, this story-arc was massive. It took a long time to resolve, involved a ton of characters, and happened across (I think) about four or five books. There's simply too much material to squeeze into an hour and a half and have it make any sense at all. Having said that, however, as far as I'm aware, this went direct to DVD and was never on any network broadcast; the running time on the film is definitely under eighty minutes. Timm and company, considering they didn't have to take commercial breaks into account, realistically, probably had about ten extra minutes (at least) that they could have used to add meat to the story.

Speaking of the story, one of the things I enjoyed the most about the comic book version was the sense of scale. It was jaw-dropping watching Doomsday crash to earth and systematically dismantle the DC universe. Watching hero after hero fall to him, and watching the Justice League torn apart by him gave Doomsday's power the proper sense of scale. The comic accomplished two things by the time the showdown between Superman and Doomsday was ready to take place. The first is, as I mentioned, that you had plenty of time to appreciate just how powerful Doomsday actually is and the second, after the fall of the Justice League, is that it properly portrays Superman as (literally) the 'last line of defense.' In the animated film, I feel like this sense of scale is completely lost. Doomsday, in my opinion, just looks like a beast that shows up and got a little lucky. Taking the Justice League out of the equasion and not seeing the reaction of the rest of the DC universe, seems to rob Superman's death of its significance.

This goes back to my earlier point about the running time, but I don't understand why we saw so little of Doomsday. I'd venture to guess his time on screen is about a third of the total running time. Considering the title, I really thought he'd be around longer. This is more a story of Superman and his clone then Doomsday.

All in all, Superman-Doomsday isn't awful. It's just that I feel if a couple of decisions were made differently that this could have gone immediately from just `OK' to `Outstanding.' My biggest complaint, and it's a point I know I keep going back to, is that there just doesn't seem to be the proper sense of scale for anything. If DC chose to recreate one of their premiere story-lines, they did themselves a disservice by not putting it in the proper context.

While in the first 30 mins or so, I wasn't so sure of how the film would be. A simple way of getting things moving is just introducing the Doomsday character, and how he got there. The sequence of Superman and Doomsday fighting was thought out well but at times, feels like its drags on.

But once Superman is dead, the film finally begins to pick up. We see Jimmy, Martha, Lois, and Lex all grieve in their own interesting ways. And one of the things I loved the most about this film is the sick incarnation of Lex, I'd never seen the character like this before. What Lex does as well to help him get through the absence of Superman is so fascinating as well and is one of the stronger elements of the film. Seeing Lois as a Lover of Superman, and Martha as his mother communicating was also very strong.

The humor of the film is very dark, which I wasn't expecting but I loved it. And there are also very dark moments any way which a story like this would need. Even if you've read The trilogy connecting the Death of Superman, watching this film is a completely new experience and will definitely surprise you.