All-Star Superman (2011)

All-Star Superman (2011)

Dir. Sam Liu

An animation based on DC's twelve-issue comic book series of the same name. In both instances it features a change in Superman (James Denton) after he rescues a crew of fearful scientists on a space vessel that's plummeting towards Earth's Sun. It relies on elements and lore from the series past, but is itself separate from the wider Superman continuity.

Character designs are faithful to Frank Quitely's work on the original comic. It's admirable that they weren't made more cartoony, but, strangely, they're not as pleasing to look at onscreen as they are on the page.

The story feels episodic, with obvious breaks where events in one comic issue would've ended and weeks later another began. That unevenness isn't helped by some intrusive wild science that sometimes feels like a teenager has taken over the writing duties.

The principal theme, which I won't spoil, is a delicate one, and I mean no disrespect when I say that the quality of the storytelling pendulums back and forth often as it unfolds, from a cohesive, multi-faceted narrative that uses absurdity as a tool one minute, to somewhat tedious and meandering the next. As the dips continued, it seemed to take longer each time for the next upturn to come along. It's been many years since I read the book, so I don't recall if that's the case there also, but I do think I enjoyed it, at that time.

Having said that, when the movie was good, it illuminated a side of the Kryptonian that we don't normally see and is praiseworthy for that. The scene just before the ending was especially great.

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