All Star Superman

I have a confession to make. I hate Superman. Not on a Lex Luthor level. I don’t want to kill him or step on his cape or anything. He never kicked my cat or froze my dog with his breath. No, nothing like that. I just never got into the character. Sure, the original Superman with Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder is a classic and so is Superman 2. But, to me, old Supes will always be the Big Blue Boy Scout. He always had a solution or a power for every problem or obstacle. That’s not fun. To me, that gets old and boring very fast.

Or at least, that was the case until I read Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s All Star Superman comic book. That story had a mad genius writing the words and another mad genius bringing those words to life. Morrison’s writing and Quitely’s art go great together. Their unique look at Superman is a gem. It’s a brilliant comic book and highly recommended if you’ve never read it. It’s the kind of story you don’t easily forget after reading it. Which brings us to All Star Superman the animated movie. It’s now also a story that you can’t forget after you’ve seen it.

 

No worries, I shall save the day regardless of Rene's hate for me

All Star Superman, the latest direct-to-dvd movie from DC Comics and Warner Bros,  gives us a different take on the Superman mythos and a different look into what motivates him to save his adopted home, Earth. All Star Superman is an adaptation of the comic book series. The series was twelve issues and the movie does a good job of boiling it all down to under an hour and a half. The movie starts with Superman defeating Lex Luthor yet again after his latest scheme to control the world and destroy the Man Of Steel. But there’s a catch this time. Luthor has set a plan into motion that can kill Superman. Once Superman discovers that he might be dying, he decides to try to do as much as he can for the people he loves and the home that’s adopted him. We follow Superman, Lois Lane and all of the other familiar faces from the Superman family as Superman tries to do as much as he can with the time he has left.

This movie has to be the best Superman movie in years. It is better than Superman The Stalker, er, I mean, Superman Returns. And, for me it’s now tied with last year’s Batman: Under The Red Hood for being the best cartoon to come out of the DC Comics Universe. It’s well written and it looks great. The way the animators blended Quitely’s art-style with the DC/Warner Brothers cartoon style of art is very well done. I was surprised at how well it works and looks. That art style is very unique and adds to the charm of the story. The voice cast is excellent as well. They bring the characters to life. I especially enjoyed Anthony LaPaglia as Lex Luthor and Christina Hendricks from Mad Men as Lois Lane.

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