First a surprisingly great "Gotham by Gaslight", then an overall ok Suicide Squad animation, then, we have this one.
Let me say upfront that (1) I've never seen the other Death of Superman movie, so I wont compare this one with that one, and (2) really I hadn't dug into this story itself before, therefore, this is kind of my first real experience with this arc.
But man, I just love this movie! I went and saw it without expectations, but wow! This time around even the bad animation's style that all these "DC Animated Universe" movies have didn't bother me.
I know it's a Superman film, but I loved the way they approach the Justice League here. Their relationship, it's so cool to see our heroes interacting, telling jokes, or just being friends really. The chemistry was there, and it was amazing.
And another amazing thing is that even though the movie has a couple of comical moments, there are also some dark scenes, they've talked about some pretty intense topics, they approach (as Zack Snyder also did on the recent DCU movies) this whole "messianic" image the population have on Superman which always cool.
The set up to Superman's death is also really well done. Through the whole movie he is almost unbeatable, he kicks everyone's ass without much effort, until... boom! Doomsday! And you feel the impact. Also, another great set up is how the population feels about Superman, he is a god, he is hope, we will always be there for them, until... boom, he isn't. And, once again, you feel it. There is one specific scene, where he saves a little boy, and the boy hugs him, it's such an emblematic moment, it's one frame that really just defines who Superman is. Wonderful.
I guees, my only issue is kind of a spoiler. I don't how much you are able to not know this story, but well, I wont say it. But genericaly speaking, it's the end, like the last 2 minutes or so. It would just be more powerful if they had the "corage" (or something like that) to finish the movie without this 2 last minutes and what happens there. I don't know, for me the movie would just be perfect, and its message potentialized. But it wasn't.
Summing up, The Death of Superman is a great piece of animation, and, in fact, the first one of the "DC Animated Universe" which really get me excited to see what is comming next. Don't get me wrong, there were some pretty good other ones, but for me this is the first GREAT one. Just love it.
