DC Comics and Warner Brothers really know how to do their Animated movies. A few weeks ago they gave us the excellent Green Lantern: First Flight this month we get Superman/Batman Public Enemies. It’s Superman’s worst fear, Lex Luthor has become President of the United States and he just can’t help himself, he uses an impending World Wide Disaster to blame Superman and declare war. He offers $1 Billion dollars to anyone who can bring Superman (voiced by Tim Daly) to justice, so everyone and their brother is after his head. Luckily Superman has the only ally he needs – Batman (voiced by Kevin Conroy) .
Director Sam Liu (who Directed several episodes of The Batman Animated Series) does a good job with this material, written by Jeph Loeb. Public Enemies isn’t a very deep movie it’s just non-stop action from beginning to end. The comic book version has more detail because you find out what they are thinking, this adaption is almost a literal word for word, panel by panel retailing of the comic, if I hadn’t read the book a few weeks ago, I would have loved this, as it is, I like it a lot.
The Blu-ray transfer is crisp and clean, I don’t think it’s much better than watching the regular DVD version. I’m not saying it’s bad, it’s just not “WOW.” The audio is excellent and it includes the standard Warner Brother’s navigation template so it’s easy to get around but I still don’t like how Warner’s uses fonts they are always so freaking tiny and scrunched together, I feel like I have to plaster my face right against the screen to read them. And again they use weird color choices so they bleed against the background color.
Not only is the main movie pretty cool but Warner’s throws in a bunch of really cool extra features. The highlight being Batman: The Animated Series producer Bruce Timm select’s 6 of his favorite Superman/Batman Teamups from Justice League Unlimited and Superman the Animated Series and he picks some awesome ones. The first 4 is a four part story that’s a movie unto itself where Luthor devices a scheme to turn the Government against the Justice League. Batman’s not even involved until the last 2 parts of this 4-part mini-movie that’s almost 90 minutes itself. The League is forced to do some soul searching when the Question finds evidence that Superman kills Lex in alternative future. Timm’s other pick is a funny one where Superman pretends to be Batman and teams up with Robin to search for a missing Bruce Wayne.
Extra Features
- Trailer Previews
- A Test of Minds: Superman and Batman (19 Min) (SD) – Jeph Loeb writer of the Graphic Novel talks about Superman and Batman’s Relationship.
- Dinner with DCU and Special Guest Kevin Conroy (56 Min) (SD)- A lively dinner with leading voice actor Kevin Conroy, Voice Director Andrea Romand, DC’s Gregory Noveck and producer Bruce Timm. I love watching these informal lunches. You really get a good sense of the chemistry and I find them more informative than director commentaries.
- A First Look at Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths (11 Mins) (SD)
- Blackest Night Preview (9 Min) (SD)
- Batman Gotham Knight: An Anime Evolution (10 Min) (SD)
- From Graphic Novel to Original Animated Movie Justice League: The New Frontier (11 Min) (SD)
- Green Lantern: First Flight – The Animated Movie Sneak Peek (10 Min) (SD)
Conclusion
The Animation, story and voice acting are all top notch. Warners goes above and beyond on the extra features by giving you an additional Justice League movie that’s actually better than the main film. I’m not convinced that paying the Blu-ray premium is the way to go with this set since all the extras are in standard def and the main feature’s picture quality doesn’t give you that “Wow,” Fans of the DC Universe should run out and rent this movie it’s well worth your time. If you must purchase look at getting the DVD Version and save a few dollars.
Grades
- Movie – A-
- Picture Quality – A
- Navigation – C
- Extras – A
- Audio – A
Final Overall Grade – A
EM Review by
Michelle Alexandria
Originally Posted 10.11.09
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