Kim Takes On: SUPERMAN/BATMAN: APOCALYPSE

The new DC Animated flick, like many other sequels, fell short of its previous installment. The film was a bit slow paced for my liking and they really could have added more humor like there was in “Public Enemies.”

When a spaceship splashes down in Gotham Harbor, Batman and Superman encounter a mysterious Kryptonian with powers as great as Superman's. When Darkseid gets wind of this, he has the Kryptonian abducted and brought under his control on Apokolips. It's up to Batman and Superman to retrieve the Kryptonian, forcing them to infiltrate Darkseid's hostile world where superpowerful threats lurk around every corner. This story is based on Jeff Loeb's popular mini-series from the Superman/Batman comic books.

Overall, I wasn’t really impressed with this movie, which is disappointing because I really did enjoy the trade paperback. It’s not a horrible adaptation (there were a few scenes I very much enjoyed) but no way as good as another of DC's animated films;Wonder Woman.

Let's get right into the thick of it: to me there were just too many filler scenes (i.e. people jogging through the park, working on their lawn, or Supergirl having a shopping spree). None of these were essential to the story at all. The shopping spree scene was the worst of them. That scene was not at all important to the movie. They could have simply had Clark suggest they go shopping and then cut to the next scene showing him carrying a bunch of bags.

The animation grew on me. I really don’t like the animation choice they made for Superman and Batman (they looked sick) but the rest of it was fantastic. The women were beautiful and I loved the animation during the Wonder Woman/Barda Vs. the Furies fight; which turned out to be one of my favorite scenes.

Now, I am picky about adaptations staying true to the stories they are based off of, but I really did like the change of having Supergirl face off against Darkseid. That scene was also an example of fantastic animation and an awesome action sequence. It really made me happy to see Kara as not simply this little girl who couldn’t fight her own battles; she really held her own.

What I'll admit I didn’t understand was the ending. Just like in the comics, Superman makes this speech introducing Kara as Supergirl but instead of introducing her to the JLA like in the comics, only the Amazons, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Barda are present. Now this bothered me. This is a sequel to Public Enemies, which featured many comic heroes and villains, so why the absence in this movie?

Once again, Tim Daly and Kevin Conroy delivered as the Man of Steel and The Dark Knight. Summer Glau made a convincing Supergirl and I hope they bring her back for future Supergirl animated features, if they choose to do anymore; which I hope they do. Andre Braugher did well as Darkseid but he was no Michael Ironside. Susan Eisenberg was a fantastic Wonder Woman her voice was strong and confident and yet very caring when necessary.

To sum up my feelings, Apocalypse wasn't the most most impressive of the DC animated film line-up, but it did have it's enjoyable moments.