All-Star Superman

This story is a little strange but it's also really interesting. The romance between Superman and Lois is actually touching. Some characters and scenes feel random but at least it's all entertaining and enjoyable to watch.

All-Star Superman is one of the most popular Superman stories there is. For some Grant Morrison fans it borders on being a sacred text. And as is the way with sacred texts, any deviation from the 'word' borders on blasphemy; however, in this case those fans have a point. Morrison (and artist Frank Quitely) crafted a deeply layered work. Morrison loves the more 'goofy' Silver Age of comics and it shows, but beneath all the 'wacky stuff' (dinosaur men??) is a narrative that's interwoven with the book's structure. Originally running twelve issues published over two volumes, each issue or chapter reflects a specific time of year and/or hour of the day (interviews with Morrison regarding this make interesting reading). Unfortunately, because of the necessity to edit the whole thing down to a 70 minute running-time much of that structure - along with many scenes and therefore continuity - is lost. The result is we're left with a series of what sometimes appear to be random incidents that head-scratchingly don't quite tie together. That said, the voice actors do an first-rate job, as do the illustrators/animators in recreating the feel of Quitely's artwork. And the story is still definitely a touching one. Overall, 7/10

All-Star Superman is a real standout movie within the animated DC films, with an outstanding voice cast this one really surprised me but not entirely in a good way.

It tells the story of our hero becoming poisoned with excessive quantities of radiation from the sun and slowly dying. He sets about getting his affairs in order before he breathes his last breath.

With a host of other DC villians including Lex Luthor (Duh!) we see several mini-stories to keep Kal busy until his final moments.

The story is well done, heartfelt and enjoyable but at the same time badly flawed in places and left me scratching my head.

It just felt like the creators went into business for themselves, throwing much of the lore out and just writing whatever they wanted like a bad piece of fan fiction.

Make no mistake I found the oddly titled All-Star Superman to be watchable but I think it spread itself too thin considering how much it tackles and the magnitude of the story they are trying to tell.

The cast do however do a fantastic job including the criminally underrated Anthony LaPaglia as Luthor.

The Good:

Hell of a voice cast

Nice story

The Bad:

Too big a story for its run time

Pretencious finale

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Storing things that can kill you makes perfect sense, destroying them would be silly

Kryptonian formalwear is the same as casual just with a hood

I want super powers for my birthday as well!

My favorite DC animated movie to date, based off of one of the better Superman comic book stories from the last decade. Dwayne McDuffie does a great job of translating Morrison's work to the screen. A few things are changed and some parts omitted for time. One of the complaints I've seen from other reviewers is that it feels too rushed. I can understand that criticism. Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns was four issues yet was given a two-part animated adaptation, clocking in at about two and a half hours combined. All-Star Superman was twelve issues yet this adaptation only clocks in at seventy-six minutes. It would have been nice had they given it more time, but I think they did good with the time they had. It moves at a brisk pace and, while there are a few small parts from the series I would have liked to see included, they did capture all of the big moments well. I watched it recently with a friend who has never read the comics. She enjoyed the movie a lot and had no complaints, so perhaps this is simply a problem among fans. Anyway, I would recommend you check out the comic series also, if you haven't already. Even if you're not a comic book reader you should enjoy it.

When I read the comic, it felt like it came out in the 60s to end Superman stories that started in the 40s even though it came out in the mid 2000s. It was a collection of vignettes that is supposed to show everything Superman is supposed to be drawn out in a nostalgic light. That version of it wasn't very appealing to me. This movie version, event though still vignettes, feels a little bit more connected than when I read the comics years ago, so it was at least entertaining enough and I guess knowing what it is going to be helped make it less annoying.

But what is it with the character design. I'm pretty sure Superman didn't look as creepy in the comics. Whenever there was a close up shot, it was too weird.