The Death of Superman – Film Review
Doomsday, a monstrous humanoid, emerges from a meteorite and runs wild in the city. However, Superman (voice of Jerry O’Connell), along with the Justice League, decide to team up in a dangerous mission to put down the monster for good and bring peace to the world.
It’s both funny and incredibly interesting that the DC Universe Animated Original Movies series has a more linear and intriguing storyline than the live-action DC Extended Universe. Granted, I like the DCEU movies a whole lot more (i.e. Shazam!, Batman v Superman, and Birds of Prey, which is my favorite thus far), but the animated series has had a better plan right from the start.
The Death of Superman, directed by Sam Liu and James Tucker serves a poignant and emotionally charged follow-up to Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay and is sure to move fans of the series to tears by the time the end credits come up. Although the film is disappointingly predictable and familiar, it treats our fan-favorite characters with a deep sense of love and respect. Even though you’ll surely predict where the story is ultimately going to go, you will definitely get a kick out of this installment.
For one, the voice acting is top-notch stuff, and some of the best in the entire animated series. Jerry O’Connell does a truly magnificent job as the voice of Clark Kent / Superman. He perfectly embodies that sense of courageousness and heart. Key qualities that are responsible for millions of people all around the world falling in love with the man in blue.
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
Similarly great here is Rainn Wilson as the voice of Lex Luthor. We all know Wilson as the lovable goofy Dwight Schrute on NBC’s The Office, but he does a surprisingly energetic and delightfully chaotic vocal performance as Superman’s arch-nemesis. In his first vocal performance as Luthor, Wilson proves that he was definitely the right casting choice.
Along the way we are treated with plenty of exciting and beautifully animated action sequences. In truth, the entire movie is animated beautifully, as is usually the case with the other films within the DC Animated universe. The animation team that worked on The Death of Superman needs immense praise for their impressive work on this film.
At times, the film does have some down time and doesn’t have much to offer, especially within the first act. The slowest moments here are the scenes where we just follow Clark Kent the person. He is obviously far more interesting when he is Superman, but there is a lot of Kent the person in this film. Gratefully, when he does don the iconic cape and suit, the movie picks up immensely and it becomes significantly more interesting to watch.
Overall, The Death of Superman is a perfectly enjoyable animated flick with a strong sense of heart, great emotion, and gorgeous animation. It definitely has a lot of slow moments that don’t offer much, but there is more good than bad within this story.
Overall Grade: B
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sequences of violence and action including some bloody images
Cast: Jerry O’Connell, Rebecca Romijn, Rainn Wilson, Rosario Dawson, Nathan Fillion, Christopher Gorham, Matt Lanter, Shemar Moore, Nyambi Nyambi, Jason O’Mara
Directed by: Sam Liu, James Tucker
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
Release Date: July 24, 2018
Running Time: 81 minutes