Superman: Brainiac Attacks

The previews for this movie made it seem to be good, but the one thing I saw that was lacking, was how they portrayed Luthor. They made him out to be some kind of wuss. They had him making lame jokes, and scared how his image would be if his satellite destroyed Superman. This only gets a 5 because Superman was again voiced by Tim Daly and The rest of the original cast had returned. With the exception of Luthor and the voice of Brainiac. Who was making cheap cracks and smirking which I found a bit odd. I was going to buy this on DVD but I'll stick with the cartoon network airing.

That is all

This movie completely ignores the original series as well as the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited series to come up with a badly written story that completely rewrites Lex Luthor's and Brainiac's personalities.

Clancey Brown is SORELY missed, Booth Power's is horrible.

Lex Luthor is a buffoon and Brainaic has been changed from calculated computer into a 2 dimensional 2-bit super villain.

The only good thing about this film is they got rid of Jimmy Olsen's mullet.

Step 1 when writing a story set in pre-existing continuity, research said continuity.

Animated by the same people who created the Superman animated television series we see our infinetly square jawed hero face off against a very poor looking Braniac.

In this very family friendly affair Superman must tangle with Braniac, a Lex Luthor scheme and deciding whether he can tell Lois his secret.

With an old school 1970's Superman soundtrack this almost feels nostalgic but is let down by it's excessive cutesy'ness and seven shades of generic.

The film has the vocal talents of the recently deceased Powers Booth and the film icon and legend Lance Henriksen who do a great job with the material they are presented with.

It's not awful, it's just not great either.

The Good:

Old school soundtrack

The Bad:

Really don't like the animation style

Braniac looks dumb

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

You know you have a problem with the protagonist when I'm cheering on the bad guy

Paul Dini and Bruce Timm had nothing to do with this...thing. And it shows. Filled with clichés and trite plot devices that even a one year old would be bored with. This is nothing like the animated series that was clever on so many levels.

They couldn't even grab Clancy Brown or Lisa Edelstein to reprise their roles as Lex Luthor and Mercy Graves. The new voices were more than a little off putting. As was the entire story in general. It should be a crime to mar a project that had such a good run years earlier.

If you want your animated Superman fix, for yourselves or, better yet, for your kids, don't invest any money in this DVD. Reach back a few years and grab the proper animated series.

Here's what makes me hate big companies...and I'll do a little dishing to make this a bit more interesting.

Yes, this movie was made entirely to capitalize on the live action Superman feature hitting the theatres on the 26th. Which isn't exactly a bad thing except it's obvious that this movie was truly an afterthought.

Dan Riba, the Godfather of the Justice League series is mysteriously absent from this production and man does it show. It seems as if Warner Brothers wanted to crank out a straight to DVD flick but Riba insisted that he needed more time to make the film coherent and best of all...good. Warner Brothers said, "No Can Do" and went ahead with production.

Ugh.

Enter writer, Duane Capizzi. Before this movie he was writing ALF: The Animated Series, Jackie Chan Adventures, and that other travesty, The Batman. It's clear that Capizzi has no interest or knowledge in following actual story lines and caricatures which is evidenced in his ridiculous portrayal of Lex Luthor. Why Lex Luthor is written like it was supposed to be cast by Gilbert Gottfried, I'll never know.

Then there are the producers, Margaret M. Dean, Kyle Jolly, and Sander Schwartz whose previous credits involved Tom & Jerry and Scooby F'n Doo.

Make no mistake, this is a horrible, horrible film that was made specifically for 5-10 year olds who probably don't care about story or plot. Don't hold any ill will towards The Justice League. Dan Riba had nothing to do with this garbage.

Avoid this film at all costs.