All-Star Superman Specs Announced

[Stone_Cold_Sisko]

If you watch DVDs on a good up-scaling player, then I actually agree, the difference isn't that noticeable. Like, watching it on a PS3 with HDMI... I honestly don't know if i'm watching DVD or BR.

However I plugged in my old PS2 to my 40 inch HDTV and played a DVD on it and it looked like ass.

[davejames]

Hmm, just saw this, and while I'd say it's one of their better efforts (especially compared to that Apocalypse one which put me to sleep)... something definitely got lost in the translation I think.

Adapting a comic like this really required a delicate touch and different approach, but too much of this felt like just another DC animated movie to me. The underlying sense of wonder and fun and, most of all, whimsy that came through so strongly in the comic's story and art really seemed to be lacking. There were little hints of it here and there, and some of it came through in the music, but not nearly enough.

I mean, all you have to do is look at the big reveal of the Fortress's interior. In the comic it's a moment which feels truly fun and magical, but here it just falls completely flat, the huge room reduced to just another one of those flat and generic paintings that looks like it came out of the old animated series.

Of course to be fair, I'm not sure anything short of big-budget, Pixar-level animation could have really done this comic justice, but I was still expecting a bit more of that magic to come through than it did.

I did think the voice cast was good though. And despite everything else, the ending was still pretty effective and moving.

[Mistral]

Watched this last night w/my kid. He kinda drifted but I loved it.
Not bad for a cartoon, not bad at all....

[Dream]

Admiral_Young wrote:

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Aw. This thread is being cluttered by technical questions. Perhaps I should have started a separate thread after all.

I hate you. I wanted to start a topic about the film itself, but you had to bump this months old topic.

I liked the movie by the way, though I wish there could have been a little more action. This movie is up there with Superman: Doomsday and Batman: Under the Red Hood movies.

[Christopher]

Dream wrote:

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I liked the movie by the way, though I wish there could have been a little more action.

I find that encouraging. I've often wished these movies would dial back on the action some to make more room for the plot and characters.

[Admiral_Young]

@Dream...lol. I should have just waited or started a new thread but got to see the movie early and needed to post my review. "All-Star Superman" is really at it's core a great character profile piece on Superman himself and to an extent Lois Lane and Lex Luthor as well. The action sequences in the film and with the original comic are really secondary and are used as a way to enhance the character if that makes sense. There were problems with the adaption...the main being that 70 minutes is simply too short for something that is this extensive and "meta".

I love this so much that I'm seriously considering getting the Absolute version.

[Mistral]

Admiral_Young wrote:

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@Dream...lol. I should have just waited or started a new thread but got to see the movie early and needed to post my review. "All-Star Superman" is really at it's core a great character profile piece on Superman himself and to an extent Lois Lane and Lex Luthor as well. The action sequences in the film and with the original comic are really secondary and are used as a way to enhance the character if that makes sense. There were problems with the adaption...the main being that 70 minutes is simply too short for something that is this extensive and "meta".

I love this so much that I'm seriously considering getting the Absolute version.

They have a version that comes with vodka?

[drychlick]

i saw it it was good! But please MORE action please! my blockbuster not have but got it off on demmad

[Admiral_Young]

All-Star Superman the comic doesn't have a lot of action in it. That's not really the point of it.

[Christopher]

As it happens, I just saw this via On Demand myself -- a service I didn't even realize I had until last week. Although I had to do some searching on the cable company’s help page to figure out the right code to enter to buy the movie; they don’t make it easy to find or give any clear instructions. Unfortunately the movie was “formatted to fit your screen” rather than letterboxed, so I didn’t quite get the full experience. But at least I’ve seen the movie now, and it was worth it. Definitely one of the best DC Universe DVD movies they’ve done, though of course they had to leave out a lot of great stuff from the comics miniseries, and the actors playing Superman and Lois were a little bland.

I felt they did a good job of creating a look that reflected Quitely's style while being cleaner for animation; in some ways I actually prefer it to Quitely's art. I was disappointed that they didn't use Leo Quintum's coat of many colors but just put him in a solid violet jacket.

[Admiral_Young]

The animation was very much a streamlined version of Quietly's art (which I'm a huge fan of ). I agree that they could have made Leo more like his outlandish self but I believe they wanted to make him a mirror for Lex. I kind of wish Jimmy's segments from the comic were put into the movie (he's got some humorous moments in the comic) but understand that it would be irrelevant to the overall plot.

[Stone_Cold_Sisko]

What is with the 70 minutes running time? Is that a DC AU standard? If so, that's really stupid. At least make it an hour and a half. Many (many, if not all) of the most successful kids movies have been in the 1.5 hour range. If it's good, it will hold their attention.

[Admiral_Young]

^ Bruce Timm has stated on several occasions that the reason these films are 70 minutes and not longer are due to strict budget restraints. They're not going to be extended. He's added that of course he'd love to make some of these projects longer, but it's just not possible.

[AviTrek]

Stone_Cold_Sisko wrote:

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What is with the 70 minutes running time? Is that a DC AU standard? If so, that's really stupid. At least make it an hour and a half. Many (many, if not all) of the most successful kids movies have been in the 1.5 hour range. If it's good, it will hold their attention.

These are not kids movies. These are DTVs. A quick check at Disney DTV sequels shows approximately 70 minute run times too. The fact is you just can't make enough money on a DTV to justify the cost of a 90 minute production.

[Christopher]

They are movies, they're just movies that are released direct to video. There is nothing in the definition of the word "movie" that excludes any particular medium of release. And they are officially called DC Universe Animated Original Movies.

What they are not is kids' movies. The DC Universe Movies are all rated PG-13, targeted at teens and adults.