DC Universe Animated Original Movies

GeorgeC · Post by **GeorgeC** » March 6th, 2011, 2:11 am

It's a darn good film, Ben.

One of the few times I've had close to a religious experience[ watching an animated film... and that doesn't happen too often with superhero films for me, either.

I'll cop to having had this experience with Batman: Mask of the Phantasm at times, some of the older Disney animated features, Beauty & The Beast, and, more recently, Despicable Me... Despicable Me took me by surprise. It's the closest to a perfect Dr. Seuss adaptation any one's done. Yes, I'm aware that story wasn't Seuss but it has the sensibilities of a very good Seuss story.

(The big letdown in rentals for me this year --- Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. Absolutely bored by it 10-12 minutes into the film. So glad I rented from Red Box for $1.07... I would have felt I seriously wasted money seeing it in theaters and buying it on BD.)

If you like the Superman character but hate the monthly comics (like I do) it's a welcome divergence from the usual fare for sure.

Best Superman stories in the past 15 years, though -- NOT Morrison by a long shot. He has too many problems in his writing and the tendency to write when he's high, to be frank. (Many present comic book fans have a tendency to embrace the worst aspects of their favorite writers even when it's self-destructive behavior and habits that lead to muddled storylines and writing.... Morrison's very guilty of this.) I'm also very put off by the art style of Frank Quitely. Oh, he's gotten better since Earth 2 (the awful Graphic Novel he did with Morrison) but his art is far from the most attractive I've seen in comics. The faceful expressions he draws still aren't the best. Thankfully, the animated film "adapted" the art to suit its purposes. It "reads" better than the original Quitely art.

The two recent Supreme TPB's that had Alan Moore story arcs were probably the best Superman stories from the modern era that I've read, period. They had a lot of the same conventions that were seen in All-Star Superman but were written years before Morrison's limited series.

I have some difficulty believing Morrison WASN'T influenced by these Moore stories. He has a tendency to ape whatever he thinks is cool and "revamp" things. (Like Quentin Tarantino he's really not that original and cherry-picks ideas from past stories.) It's been publicly demonstrated that Morrison is jealous of Moore. The public contest he has with Alan Moore is a lot like what was demonstrated between Luthor and Superman, and, like the film, it's very one-sided!

GeorgeC · Post by **GeorgeC** » March 6th, 2011, 2:23 am

Just wanted to add something about Luthor...

Although what I said about LaPaglia's performance is true, don't take it to mean that I hated what Clancy Brown did with the character.

Clancy Brown could have easily pulled off Luthor in All-Star Superman, too. It's just that the character was written such during Superman: TAS and the Justice League series that he rarely rose above what people expect to see of Luthor -- irrational mad scientist seeking to best Superman, extreme xenophobic behavior, etc.

To Brown's credit, his performance was so good that nitpicking the writing years afterward is just that... nitpicking.

There were a few moments in the later and final storyarcs of Justice League that the writing of Luthor got very good. It matched up very well with what Clancy Brown had accomplished with his acting. Luthor's joy at perceiving higher reality during his brief symbiotic metamorphosis with Brainiac is a lot like what happens later in the All-Star Superman film (without giving away too much, I hope). His anger at Darkseid breaking off all possibility of rejoining communion with Brainiac is quite a bit more than typical Luthor. He can let go of his obsession with Superman at least temporarily to fry larger fish (someone he hates even more -- Darkseid!) to the point that he makes a truce with Superman and the Justice League! It's interesting to see that he really does save the day when all is said-and-done in the finale of the Justice League series.

Post by **Randall** » March 6th, 2011, 12:32 pm

I'll agree with you on the Moore stories. They're the best. My other fave from the past couple of decades or so is the first chapter of Superman For All Seasons, the only Loeb-written book I've loved.

I can't disagree on Morrison either. What you've said is true. Still... I like a lot of his stuff despite the flaws. Even when his JLA was nearly incomprehensible, it was at the top of my reading pile. What can I say? He just appeals to me. Morrison really needs a strong editor, though--- verging on a co-writer, really--- to bring him back down to Earth.

GeorgeC · Post by **GeorgeC** » March 6th, 2011, 10:33 pm

http://www.comicscontinuum.com/stories/ ... dricks.htm

She is so cute!

"Kawaii" as the Japanese say!

Post by **Randall** » March 20th, 2011, 7:44 pm

My take on All*Star Superman:

http://animatedviews.com/2011/allstar-superman/

Post by **Dusterian** » March 20th, 2011, 10:32 pm

Hey, your not slow. That review made me really, really interested. I looked at the review because it sounded like something really special was up, so good for your interest-making. I dunno though. I'm not a comics guy, and I don't know when I would watch the movie, but if I ever did, would it ruin anything else Superman for me since I haven't even seen the Reeve's films?

By the way, for that Popeye book review, didn't you find it strange that a priest of all people kept talking about how hot Olive was and how handsome and strong Bluto was?! I mean...not only do I feel bad for the guy only being able to lust after a cartoon (or is he the kind that can marry?), but to praise Bluto for being only physically good-appearing while condemning the much nicer, more good Popeye as weak...?!

Post by **Randall** » March 20th, 2011, 10:56 pm

Thanks, Dusterian. Feel free to watch the Superman movie, Dust--- it stands on its own, and won't spoil anything for you. It's much different than the Reeve films, as it's based more on the comics version.

Yeah, that minister (I think he's married) had some odd notions about Popeye, Olive, and Bluto. He made some valid points, but overall I couldn't relate.

Post by **Randall** » April 2nd, 2011, 12:59 pm

We knew about Batman: Year One being due next after GL: Emerald Knights, but now Warner has announced what's after that: another Justice League film, based on Mark Waid's Tower of Babel storyline. Sounds good to me. Waid had trouble hitting his stride writing JLA, but this was a darn good story.

http://spinoff.comicbookresources.com/2 ... um=twitter

GeorgeC · Post by **GeorgeC** » July 7th, 2011, 3:39 pm

The trailer for the next direct-to-video DC animated film, "Batman: Year One", is up on the Internet.

Here's a site with the trailer => http://blog.newsarama.com/2011/07/07/ba ... ts-online/

The new animated film debuts at this year's Comic-Con on July 22nd and will be released on DVD and Blu ray on October 18th.

The film adapts the 24-year-old Frank Miller story that revamps Batman's origin. The art was by David Mazzucchelli. The art style of the film seems only mildly influenced by the comic.

Looking good so far!

Post by **Darkblade** » July 7th, 2011, 6:16 pm

Speaking of Frank Miller, I've heard that The Dark Knight Returns is getting the animated treatment.

Post by **Randall** » July 7th, 2011, 9:48 pm

Year One looks good. I have a nice feeling about it. The art is certainly influenced by Mazzuchelli's work on the comic, though only to an extent. I'm sure they felt a need to make the artowork a little more detailed and snazzier, not that there was anything wrong with Mazzuchelli's work.

Dark Knight Returns has been mentioned often as something fans want to see adapted, and I'm sure it's inevitable. Warner is clearly focusing on Batman and Superman (and film tie-ins) with their DCU line, with the odd JLA story thrown in; so, DKR seems very likely indeed.

I love the DVD cover for Year One, and it's great to see a Catwoman short being included. I hope they keep the shorts coming on these releases (though longer runtimes on the features would be even better).

Post by **Randall** » July 23rd, 2011, 1:46 pm

This just in from Comic-Con (coutesy of Comics Continuum): the 2012 slate will include Justice League: Doom, inspired by the Tower of Babel story and written by Dwayne McDuffie; Superman vs. the Elite, based on the comics story; and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, which will be a two-part film and is based on Frank Miller's classic series.

GeorgeC · Post by **GeorgeC** » September 29th, 2011, 8:08 pm

Minor correction on Whitney's announcement about Justice League: Doom on the front page news.

Green Lantern/Hal Jordan is being voiced by Nathan Fillion not Nathan Fallan.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0277213/

Fillion has already voice-acted Hal Jordan in the recent Green Lantern: Emerald Knight video movie. He did a fairly good job -- sounded about the way I think Hal Jordan should. Right intonation and swagger. I think he could have been a heck of a good live-action Lantern, too.

Fillion's best-known amongst science fiction fans as Captain Mal Reynolds, captain of the Starship Serenity from the Firefly TV series.

Note: There's been a number of changes from the original Tower of Babel storyline in JLA. Cyborg's been added, Kyle Rayner swapped for Hal Jordan, and I'm sure other little changes as well. Don't expect a perfect translation. It's impossible for a film that runs under 80 minutes!

I'm crossing my fingers and hope the DC animated films continue to do well.

The live-action DC movies have been half-bad (nothing but Batman has worked out well -- and I HATE the Batman films) and the 52 revamp has been a critical miss with many old-time comic books. From what I've seen at Barnes & Noble, the relaunches are at best mediocre... (I haven't been to a decent comic shop in over a year and I don't intend to go back to one any time soon...) I expect sales on the comic line to settle down to what they were or lower than they were prior to the relaunch.

I'm glad the "geniuses" in charge of the live-action films and DC comics don't much connection to the animated works!

Post by **Randall** » September 29th, 2011, 8:33 pm

Well, the relaunch has been a massive sales success so far, with all titles getting at least second printings (JL is on its fourth), and 11 of the 52 going over 100,000 copies in sales to stores (amazing for today's comics market).

That'll definitely settle down a lot over the next couple of months. Many of us sampled lots of the titles to see what we liked (I got over 20 of them), or just to get a feel for what was being done to "our" characters. But speaking for myself, I've liked enough of them that I will be majorly bumping up my DC comics purchases for at least a little while.

Post by **Randall** » October 24th, 2011, 2:12 am

Batman: Year One is a winner!!!

http://animatedviews.com/2011/batman-year-one/

DC Universe Animated Original Movies

Re: DC Universe Animated Original Movies

Batman: Year One trailer online...

Re: DC Universe Animated Original Movies