Animation Review: Superman: Doomsday

Distributed by Warner Premiere
74 minutes

It’s been a while since Bruce Timm and fellows ended the long-ongoing and fan-adored “DC animated universe,” a cohesive timeline that started in 1992 with Batman: The Animated Series, ended an amazing fourteen years later with the series finale of Justice League Unlimited, and spanned almost a dozen separate TV series and movies.

Superman: Doomsday, along with two other direct-to-DVD animated movies Timm and co. are currently working on (Justice League: New Frontier and Teen Titans: The Judas Contract), is not a part of that canon. Which, in and of itself, is not a bad thing. But, still, why do I feel like this movie could have been so much better had it been a sequel to Justice League Unlimited (which conveniently had a loose end concerning the character Doomsday), instead of a retelling of the classic Death and Return of Superman comic arc?

Synopsis
Clark Kent is off to Afghanistan as a war correspondent, as his alter-ego Superman continues a romantic relationship with longtime flame Lois Lane. Lois isn’t too happy about certain aspects of the relationship, though, including Superman’s reluctance to reveal his secret identity, an identity Lois hints at already knowing.

Meanwhile, billionaire mogul and supervillain Lex Luthor is at it again. This time, searching for a means to make even more money, presumably to continue the quest for more power and eventually kill his nemesis Superman, Lexcorp crews happen upon an ancient alien vessel. An ancient, and damaged, alien vessel, meant to forever imprison an otherworldly horror: Doomsday, a weapon that knows killing… and nothing else.

The fractured tomb can no longer hold Doomsday, who escapes and violently murders the Lexcorp workers as Lex, from the safety of his Metropolis office, watches. Before long, Doomsday makes his way to the surface, prompting a killing spree that leads all the way to Metropolis. Superman intervenes, but the monster is more than a match for the Man of Steel.

Superman fights what is likely his greatest foe, and seemingly dies in the process. But is he really dead? And what consequences will his return have on the world and the people closest to him?

Storytelling/Characters
Long story short: the plot is rushed and clumsy, but the characters themselves are done justice.

Short story long: checking in at a meager seventy-four minutes, what Superman: Doomsday really needed was more time.

The lead up to the Doomsday fight, along with the fight itself and its aftermath, was not given enough time to blossom. You don’t really get the sensation that Superman was hopelessly outmatched, nor do you really feel that the fight took so much out of him as to believe that he could have died. Without the Justice League’s presence, or any other superhero for that matter, I feel that the true weight of Superman’s battle with Doomsday and subsequent “death” wasn’t felt. Part of the reason Doomsday seemed so unbeatable in the original comic book storyline was because the guy pretty much ripped the Justice League a new one. Had one or more members of the JLA been present to fight Doomsday before Superman’s arrival, we would have seen, from the sheer ability to take out the league, just how formidable Doomsday truly is, and how Superman was easily outclassed. Maybe Justice League Unlimited spoiled me, but with Superman as the lone existing superhero, Superman: Doomsday just feels… empty.

With no other heroes present at Superman’s funeral, or even a few world leaders, for cripes sake, the whole affair was just so underwhelming. Yes, we all know that Superman isn’t really dead… but that’s not knowledge the people of the movie’s fictional world are privy to. They honestly believe that Superman has met his end. Shouldn’t we be feeling his death, no matter how untrue we know it to be, as more than simply a stepping stone to the second half of the movie?

It’s also possible that the movie’s erratic pacing, abrupt scene transitions, and unneeded plot elements added to my sense of frustration. Seriously, the show jumps from Lois to Superman to Jimmy to Luthor with all the subtle grace of a cartoon elephant running from a mouse. Some transitions are logical, but most are too sudden, breaking up the plot’s flow. Some plot elements, like Jimmy Olsen’s decision to leave the Daily Planet, are so wholly unnecessary that one wonders why they’re taking up valuable screen time needed elsewhere.

Despite the storyline’s rough edges, though, Superman: Doomsday has many high points, the most obvious being its characters. This is Superman you’re seeing: the sometimes insecure, simple-minded, petty man who will not allow evil to reign unchecked. From his arguments with Lois about the need to keep secrets, to his second wind when Doomsday is about to kill a little girl, there’s no mistaking that this character encompasses everything that Superman is all about. Lois Lane is as convincingly motivated and confident in the face of danger as she is heartbroken when Superman is in danger of dying. Lex Luthor’s rather disturbing way of mourning Superman’s apparent demise makes perfect sense given the kingpin’s very skewed set of ideals. Every character is presented very well.

Superman: Doomsday’s dialog is equally impressive. It’s smart, funny, and moving, the sort of mature, intelligently-written stuff that proves, yet again, that superhero stories are far from being kids’ stuff.

Animation/Visuals
Breathtakingly gorgeous, Superman: Doomsday is exceptionally well-animated. The fights between Superman and Doomsday, and later with the movie’s final antagonist, are extremely high quality skirmishes; you truly feel as if you’re watching massively powerful beings fighting to the death in the middle of a vast city. Superman and Lois’s intimate moments are visually convincing; words almost aren’t necessary to convey the emotion. The same can be said about anything Lex Luthor does, from calmly ordering the death of his own workers to his expression when he realizes that Doomsday has done, in a mere evening, what Lex has been unable to do for years.

One gripe: Superman’s face is drawn with about four lines too many. Cheekbone definitions? Stylistic facial structure? I don’t know, but I don’t care; his face just looks stupid with all those damn lines.

Voices/Music
Adam Baldwin is the perfect choice for a modern-day Man of Steel; his voice just drips the essence of Superman with every word. James Marsters’s youthful Lex Luthor will sound unusual to Justice League Unlimited fans, but fits the villain very well. Marsters captures every aspect of Luthor’s dark personality very well.

Overall, the voice work is superb, with one slight exception: Anne Heche as Lois Lane. Sometimes, she nails her lines perfectly, such as during Lois’s tearful breakdown in front of Martha Kent. For the most part, though, her attempts at sounding like a go-getter journalist come off as annoying.

The film’s orchestral score, including a new Superman theme, accompanies every scene perfectly. The movie’s as easy on your ears as it is on your eyes.

Overall
Superman: Doomsday is better than I expected it to be… but not as good as I hoped. However, though starved for time and guilty of clumsily handling its plot, Superman: Doomsday still manages to deliver an entertaining re-envisioning of a classic comic book storyline.

If Justice League: New Frontier exhibits the same downfalls, though, I won’t be quite as forgiving.