Blu-Ray Review: All-Star Superman

All-Star Superman
Starring the voice talents of John Denton (Clark Kent/Superman), Christina Hendricks (Lois Lane), Anthony Lapaglia (Lex Luthor), Ed Asner (Perry White)
Written by Dwayne McDuffie
Based on the original comic series “All-Star Superman” by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely
Directed by Sam Liu

It’s been quite a while since I reviewed the individual issues of “All Star Superman“, the award-winning limited series comic from Grant Morrison and artist Frank Quitely, for PTG, but I remember being very aware that I was in the minority in terms of my feelings for the book.

Quite simply, I didn’t care for it.

Unlike most Superman fans with a taste for more dramatic, thought-provoking storytelling when it comes to comics, I was not, in any sense of the word, “wowed” by what Morrison was doing. Truthfully, I often found the book off-putting in the same way I at times found his work on Final Crisis, Final Crisis: Superman Beyond and any other multiverse-spanning storyline of his off-putting. His “super-science” technobabble gobbledygook filling up dialogue at every opportunity, his off-kilter pacing, his sometimes bizarre characters and characterizations of particular characters all left me cold. It wasn’t all bad, per se–I remember finishing particular issues and thinking, “That wasn’t bad at all!” and then being disappointed a month later (or whenever the next issue came out) because he once again went off in another weird, wacky direction. More than once I thought particular issues felt like filler; perhaps I’d feel differently if I read the series in a consolidated form, but coming out month to month, some issues left me feeling as though I wanted those fifteen minutes I spent reading back to use more productively. Year after year it continued to win Eisner awards and praise within and outside the comic book community, and I just shook my head and felt dumb, because I just didn’t “get” it. It just didn’t work for me.

Thus, when Warner Premiere and DC Entertainment announced that All-Star Superman would be the basis for the next DC Universe Animated Feature series entry, my reaction was a very emphatic “Eh.” Once I had time to think about it, however, I became more intrigued with the possibilities, simply because due to time constraints, whatever screenwriter they got to work on the project would be forced to make cuts in order to make the narrative move more efficiently, and make the dialogue and exposition palatable to human ears (Morrison has even said recently that he deliberately writes superhero stories “with non-naturalistic, composed or heightened dialogue.”). In my view, the feature had a chance to be more compelling emotionally than its source material just because it would have to shear away all the gobbledygook in order to keep viewers engaged and not be three hours long.

Well, I was only partly correct. Writer Dwayne McDuffie (who passed away unexpectedly the day after this video was released) DOES eliminate a number of subplots and story tangents while still keeping a great deal of original story elements intact in his screenplay (more elements, in fact, than Morrison himself has admitted he believed to be possible).

Unfortunately, the work as a whole STILL is not compelling emotionally, which is truly remarkable, considering what we have in All-Star Superman is the story of Kal-El facing his mortality, facing imminent death and wishing to take care of a few last things before leaving this mortal coil. If anything, it should be the MOST emotionally riveting of Superman stories, and yet, it lacks, for lack of a better word, “punch.”

McDuffie is not to blame, certainly. He’s given us a faithful adaptation of an extremely complex piece of writing within the constraints of having to create an 86-minute long animated feature. He included all the most important story beats from Morrison’s tale, and incorporated a large amount of original dialogue from the comics. For those who loved Morrison’s story as it unraveled in the series, this adaptation will no doubt be a delight each time they hear remembered lines or experience beloved story moments in a completely new way. Visually, the animators clearly worked hard to replicate Frank Quitely’s distinctive character designs, and to bring to life the “gentle giant” quality he bestows upon the Man of Steel, and they are largely successful. In terms of fealty to the source material, this film is one of the most faithful yet.

And maybe that’s why, once again, it didn’t work for ME. Didn’t care for the original story, don’t care for the movie adaptation. Not so much of a stretch, right?

One thing I will say that I was truly underwhelmed by that had no connection to Morrison’s work was the voice cast for this particular feature. James Denton, perhaps best known for his recurring role as Mike Delfino on Desperate Housewives, takes a turn as Clark/Superman for this feature, but he doesn’t bring much to the table here. While watching the film I was reminded of Adam Baldwin’s performance as Superman in Superman: Doomsday, and how un-memorable it was, and the two are quite comparable. Christina Hendricks (Mad Men) does a credible Lois Lane, particularly during the few moments she banters with Clark, although I was reminded how much I detested Morrison’s characterization of Lois in this story, and that, no doubt, is coloring my opinion. Anthony Lapaglia (Without a Trace) brings Lex Luthor to life with just the right amount of intellectual arrogance and sneer to make you want to see him beaten by the end, and that would be a good thing IF we had a Superman in place that we felt like cheering for. Unfortunately, as pointed out earlier, Denton doesn’t make it work, and like Superman: Doomsday, when the lead character’s voice work doesn’t live up to the role, the rest has to struggle just to be mediocre.

Grade: C

<a href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001ECQ5SY?ie=UTF8&tag=stiwaionthebu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B001ECQ5SY”>Superman: Doomsday</a><img src=”http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=stiwaionthebu-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B001ECQ5SY” width=”1″ height=”1″ border=”0″ alt=”" style=”border:none !important; margin:0px !important;” />