All Star Superman The Cartoon Movie

"Doomed planet. Desperate scientists. Last hope. Kindly couple. Superman."

Now to start off with I want to highly recommend anyone who likes cartoon movies to go out and check out every single direct to video DC Universe cartoon movie that they have put out. Marvel may be winning in the theatrical live action releases right now, but they can't touch DC with the cartoon direct to video market. The titles that they have release all have either Batman, Superman, or both in them so far with one exception (that would be Superman/Shazam because of the short cartoons that they included with that that were far better than the main feature that featured The Spectre, Jonah Hex, and Green Arrow). All Star Superman is the icing on the cake for this argument. It is so excellent and so filled with wonderful story and solid voice acting that I wish I could go back and watch it again for the first time. It is based on the popular Eisner award winning Grant Morrison story. However, those that are coming to the table expecting everything that was in those comics will be greatly disappointed. So if you've read those comics, come to watch this with fresh eyes as best as you can. Those that haven't read it yet, please don't read it until after you see this.

Now as for the story it starts off as most Superman stories start off. Superman has to save the day for some scientists who have been sabotaged by Lex Luthor. What makes this time different is that not only is this a trap for Superman, but this time it works. Superman saves the scientists who are out in space from crashing into the sun. What happens as a result of this though is that Supermans cells get so charged with solar energy that he gains new powers, and greatly enhances his already existing powerful abilities. Doesn't sound so bad, right? Wrong. See what this also has done is that Supermans cells can't handle all this solar radiation. Kind of like a battery that has been overcharged. So now Superman finds out he's dying. This is how the story starts out. From there it goes on to show what he does with his last days, and how he wraps up all of his unfinished business so that he feels like he can die and leave the world safe. That is where the story gets really interesting. I don't want to give anything away, but he does clash with Luthor a few times, and he sees another one or two of his old enemies. He also finds a way to settle things with Lois. This story isn't your grandfathers Superman. It has a lot of depth, heart, and drama. The score to this is so good it makes you want to own the soundtrack. The voice acting, as I've said, is solid. They get people who know how to use their voices properly, and know how to act using just their voices. The animation is really good considering it isn't cell animation. It isn't Pixar kind of computer animation, but rather the new computer animation that is made to look somewhat similar to cell animation. Honestly, you have to watch this one to get why it is so good though. So do yourself a favor and turn off your brain and watch this. It doesn't need a lot of time, just one chance and that's all it ever needed. After you see the movie you'll understand why that was a little bit of a joke.