Superman/Batman: Public Enemies

This is the first Superman/Batman team up movie I have ever seen. And it's fast-paced with some entertaining and cool action. The story isn't all that great, but it also didn't seem like it was something that was just there to make the two heroes team up. The animation on the other hand is fluid and well animated, although the design might not be appealing to everyone. So the story is this, Les is the president of the united states and has some heroes under his thumb by winning their trust. That is except Batman and Superman who he puts a hit out on. So the two heroes are running and fighting other heroes while finding out a way to delve into the source of the matter at hand and take down Lex Luthor. The premise isn't anything super original, but it's a Superman/Batman team up movie and that in itself makes it worth a watch.

7.2/10

The sixth DVD project from Warner Bros's DC Animated Universe unit, "Superman/Batman: Public Enemies" is a fun, socially-conscious adaptation of the six-part comic book story/graphic novel by writer Jeph Loeb and artists Ed McGuinness and Dexter Vines. Sure, it's short (67 minutes) and not to the letter (no continuity-oriented sidebars), but it's action-packed coolness.

America's plagued with crime, economic despair and war, making it easy for unethical corporate shark Lex Luthor (Clancy Brown, "The Shawshank Redemption" ) to run for and win the White House. There, he initiates that meta-humans and costumed crime-fighters serve the U.S. government, but the Big Two, optimistic Kryptonian boy scout Superman (Tim Daly, "Private Practice") and brooding urban detective Batman (Kevin Conroy, "Dynasty") rightfully feel he's full of it (including the "sh"). That gives the mastermind reason to frame the Man of Steel with the murder of "reformed" Kryptonite-powered cyborg Metallo (John C McGingley, "Scrubs"), marking him a wanted criminal and Bats as an accessory. As the Big Two fight both friends and foes, there's a huge chunk of Kryptonite headed towards Earth. The stakes are very high.

With a script by Stan Berkowitz ("Justice League: The Animated Series"), director Sam Liu ("Jackie Chan Adventures", "The Batman") gives "Public Enemies" the blockbuster-with-a-brain treatment, a fashion used in previous DC animated projects. Reprising their roles from the heroes' solo shows, Conroy and Daly are great, emphasizing their characters's differences on how to mete out justice. Brown, also doing a reprisal, nearly counters with their heroism with his callous insanity. The standard but lively animation interestingly echoes the art by McGuinness and Vines.

The other voice actors are competent: CCH Pounder ("The Shield") replaying government liaison Amanda Waller from "League"; Xander Berkeley ("Shanghai Noon", "Year One") as the noble Captain Atom and Richard Chavira ("Desperate Housewives") as his volatile counterpart Major Force. It's weird hearing Allison Mack ("Smallville") as Power Girl, due to the character's…well, you know, but she's durable in the role, even with a subtle, but funny sexual gag, validating the PG-13 rating.

"Public Enemies" should be on every DC Comics fan's wanted DVD's list.

In the middle of a deep recession, Lex Luthor's third party alternative manages to win the race for the presidency on promises of change and tough orders. As part of his winning campaign he brings in several superheroes and aliens to be part of his team and work directly for the government rather than being a law onto themselves. Neither Superman or Batman follow this dictate and, at a meeting to discuss a meteorite heading towards Earth, Superman is framed for murder by President Luthor, who then turns the public against the vigilante superheroes with spin and presentation. Whenever Superman escapes capture, Luthor offers a billion dollar reward for Superman which brings every hero and alien on the hunt for him and Batman.

I stumbled onto this cartoon by chance but gave it a shot since I have enjoyed this sort of DVD before and am a Batman fan. Things start really well with a lot of promise. The opening sequence depicts a society in collapse, with "normal" people turning to petty crime just to stay alive, communities living in tent lots and an economy collapsed, leading to the election of Luthor and a well designed title sequence and dramatic score. This scale and excitement either is followed up or isn't followed up, depending on your point of view. What follows is essentially one fight sequence after another and, as such it is distracting fare for those that are happy with this. It looks good with typically square-jawed heroes and well animated sequences throughout.

The downside of it is that there doesn't appear to be much to it beyond the punching and the flying. Dialogue is minimal but more disappointingly the film seems to lack the dramatic atmosphere that the first few minutes and the title sequence created. It was a problem for me simply because I do look for some darkness in these cartoons and it is disappointing for them to have none – making it harder for me to swallow the spectacle of the whole thing. The voice cast has some good names in there but the lack of any meaningful substances means that they can't really bring anything other than their names and their "oh it's on the tip of my tongue" recognisable voices. Brown, Berkeley, Pounder, McGinley and a few others are strange finds while Conroy and Daly do solid enough work with their deep voices in the title characters.

Public Enemies is a solid enough cartoon. The fights and animation are big and distracting enough but it is a little disappointing to find it lacking atmosphere or genuine drama – particularly when it all starts with so much promise ahead of the titles. Good enough for a look if you like this sort of thing but not good enough to win over the casual viewer.

Mixed feelings followed after i first watched this extremely short(compared to other DC animated movies) adaptation of the Jeph Loeb Superman/batman graphic novel. For starters, there was the running time. At a mere 67 minutes(6 of which goes into the opening and closing credits sequences) this film's story disappointed me in many aspects.

First there was the story. In a time of severe economic downturn and financial crisis, the United States turn in desperation to one man, Lex Luthor, and elects him president in hopes that his vast resources can turn things around for the better. With Luthor now in power, the country returns to a state of peace. That is until the a gigantic meteorite composed entirely of Kryptonite is discovered to be on a collision course with earth. President Luthor wastes no time in capitalizing on this opportunity and, through devious manipulation and media propaganda, gets Superman branded as a criminal. A One billion dollar bounty is declared on the Man of Steel which draws not only a vast array of villains looking to cash in on the bounty, but other superheroes either convinced that Superman as gone rogue. Teaming up with Batman, the two must work together if they are to save the world, clear their names and uncover Luthor's sinister hidden agenda.

Story sounds great doesn't it? Sadly it plays out nothing like an epic tale that i was expecting, but rather like a three episode story arc of the Justice League TV series(not that Justice league was a bad show. It was great, but having a TV series styled story in a movie where the ante is expected to be upped, is really disappointing). What could have been a clever metaphor for the social and political problems that USA has recently faced soon descends into a familiar and almost formulaic narrative style. This movie just had so much potential to expound on more of the underlying themes, which sadly, it did not.

"Familiar and formulaic", thankfully does not extend into the artwork. THe character designs follow the original graphic novel's art by Ed McGuinness rather closely. Whether you like it or not, every character look like they went through a couple hundred protein shakes and body building regimes. Even Powergirl looks buff and bulging with muscles. The CGI backgrounds look stunning with muted tones that make them look like painted artwork at times, But it clashes very very obviously with the lesser detailed and more brightly colored characters and vehicles. On a side note, the CGI of the vehicles are extremely bad and look no better than the primitive CGI employed for "The Zeta Project"(the Batman Beyond spin off).

Speaking of the characters, This show is clearly for the long time fans since all the characters are presented already in "full view" with hardly an attempt at further character development.. There is no tension between Superman or Batman, no indication of any differing ideals or methods. From the start, they seem like best buds already which makes the whole "unlikely team up" part(not to mention the climax where the unlikely duo come to really respect each other) a little redundant.

Despite these shortcomings, what really justifies the price of this show is the action and animation. Sure the animation is a little stiff in the more conversation-heavy scenes, but it transits to a very fluid animation style during the numerous fight scenes which boasts an exceptionally high frame rate. Fresh from directing Marvel animation's "Hulk Vs", Sam Liu(the Director)manages to bring out the most in every action sequence; fast paced, relentless and brutal. Every one of those scenes look almost cinematic in feel and epic in scope thanks to some great shot angles coupled with dynamic framing and story-boarding. The grand, adrenaline pumping score by Christopher Drake compliments the movie perfectly.

On a certain level, i enjoyed Superman/Batman:Public enemies very much. The animation and action surpassed the standard direct-to-video animated movie. The character interplay by veteran voice actors Kevin Conroy and Tim Daley(reprising their respective roles of Batman and Superman from the animated series)is very well scripted with a couple of witty one liners here and there.

If you like your superhero movie big on action and don't mind one that comes up short in the story aspect, then Superman/Batman: Public enemies is for you. Also highly recommended to fans of the various DC animated series.

Nonstop action start to finish. Great acting by all the three lead characters Batman, Superman and Lex Luther. The background musical score is also superb.

The plot is very good and effective. This shows again the important of a well written script.

The plot: Lex Luthor has been elected President of United States during a severe nation-wide economic depression. This is mainly due to his great wealth. The United States government discovers that a massive Kryptonite meteor is hurtling toward Earth. Luthor wants to destroy it using nuclear missiles and take all the credit for it. Now all he needs is to take Superman out of the way for good.

He immediately proceeds to frame Superman. He engineers the a fight between Metallo and Superman. Later we find Metallo has been killed, and Superman has been framed for it. Luther puts a million dollar bounty on Superman.

Batman who has been observing Luthor and the meteor all the time, intervenes and helps Superman to clear his name in the eyes of the public.

But with all the villains looking to collect on the bounty, will Superman live to see another day, destroy the meteor and foil Luther's plans yet again?

Watch and find out.

10/10 a must for any DVD/BLU-RAY collection.