Review: The Death of Superman Animated Movie

Superman dying at the hands of Doomsday is still one of the most iconic comic book series of all time and the story has only been adapted in movie form a few times.

One animated film came out a decade ago while Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice shoehorned Doomsday at the last minute.

Now DC Animation is giving the story another go with "The Death of Superman" that released this month. Does this new movie add new things to the story and is it better than the previous efforts?

Well one thing hardcore comic book fans will notice is that this new cartoon takes lots of liberties with the source material and adds members of the Justice League for some reason.

I don't mind the addition of the Justice League to the story, although it is odd since this was originally a solo Superman story.

Another weird thing about this movie is that Lois Lane still does not know that Clark Kent is Superman. It just feels funny how Lois Lane cannot recognize the man she loves is also Superman!

One thing that The Death of Superman does well though is that it does not feel like a rushed storyline. I always hated how Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ended as Doomsday was added in the last minute.

Here in this new animated movie, we get to see Doomsday come to Earth and tension builds up towards the final fight.

It's kind of like watching a UFC PPV as Doomsday faces the other Justice League members first before he fights Superman in the main event.

That said, structuring a movie where one fight is the entire plot does make the start of the film feel a little slow and boring.

One of the main side stories here is Clark Kent struggling to tell Lois Lane he's Superman and this takes up a lot of screentime!

However, the film manages to get more exciting once Doomsday arrives and starts terrorizing the city.

The animation is superb in this movie and the action is always exciting to watch. Don't worry Superman fans, Superman is the main event because the Justice League members are no threat to Doomsday!

The fact that "The Death of Superman" does not rush things is a plus because the 2007 Superman: Doomsday movie tried to cram in too many storylines at once.

The new film has a better pace and will feature more when a sequel is released next year.

Sure the film ends on a cliffhanger, but I don't mind this story being broken into two parts. Hopefully the animated movie that comes out next year is also exciting to watch.

The only major thing I did not like about this movie is the voice acting.

Rainn Wilson's portrayal of Lex Luthor sounds more like a whiny nerd while Jerry O'Connell does not sound as charming as Henry Cavill as the role of Superman/Clark Kent.

Every other character in the movie sounds fine and you will laugh a few times thanks to the addition of The Flash into the mix.

Overall, The Death of Superman is another fine addition to the DC Animated films catalog. It might not be perfect, but it's an improvement over Superman: Doomsday and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice because the story isn't rushed.

Verdict: 3.5/5 stars

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