Superman Unbound

Superman Unbound ~ I was not expecting to like this. Many of the recent DC animated flicks have been just okay, significantly altered from the source material, or just plain mediocre. True, there have been a few winners, but for the most part, not.

When I saw this preview with my Injustice: Gods Among Us PS3 game I was nonplussed. Another retelling of the Brainiac story, and more bratty Supergirl? No thanks. My Brainiac is neither Darkseid nor Galactus, and my Supergirl died in the Crisis on Infinite Earths, and I haven't seen her since. Still, I finally sat down and watched Superman Unbound, and I gotta say, they made it work.

This movie is surprisingly good, and despite being based on Geoff Johns' complex "Brainiac" story arc from 2008, they keep things pretty simple with a Silver Age vibe. They do try to put Brainiac in the same league with Darkseid and Galactus, but I didn't mind it. Supergirl is the newer teenaged version but also very Silver Age. I dug this a lot.

The voice cast is phenomenal - Matt Bomer, Molly Quinn, Diedrich Bader, and especially John Noble as Brainiac and Stana Katic as Lois Lane are terrific. Katic's Lois is one of the best, and her relationship with Clark is a subplot that would have been fluff in other hands. Here it's real and believable.

Superman Unbound is an animated movie that I think will, for once, appeal to both old school and newer fans. This was awesome.