Superman: Brainiac Attacks - (2006)

Two out of three ain't bad, is it?

The magic of animation occurs when the melding of unreal illustrations with real voices combines to create living, breathing characters that inspire true emotions and compassion towards them. The two halves are equal partners and share equal responsibilities in this endeavor, and when one is unfortunately lacking, its' overall quality can be diminished. Much of the popularity of Superman the Animated Series, as with most respected cartoons, can be attributed to these factors, and in this case specifically, the three voice actors who bring these legendary characters to life. Two of the three, Tim Daly and Dana Delaney, are thankfully on board to present their usual stellar performances, with Delaney especially shining with her incredibly sexy and richly textured voice as Lois Lane. Regrettably the third member of this talented trilogy, Clancy Brown, is painfully absent in his role as Lex Luthor, creating a huge irreplacable void that was made even more glaringly apparent by Powers Boothe's ineffectual rendition and the appallingly written and dumbfoundingly dreadful mischaracterization of Lex that he had to overcome. Judging by the numerous negative reviews, this was an insurmountable obstacle for many under any conditions, which is unfortunate, because its' merits are many. The story, despite Lex's shortcomings, is sound, as is the usual top notch animation. Action fans will love it; if anything, it may be criticized for its' extensive use in lieu of plot. What eventually rescues and ultimately elevates this movie is its' totally unexpected but absolutely charming focus on a budding romance between Lois and, Great Caesar's Ghost, Clark Kent?! Can this be true? Indeed it is, in all its' touching innocent glory. So despite all of the aforementioned and certainly justified criticisms, there is plenty here for romance lovers and action aficionados alike to enjoy. Two out of three ain't bad, is it? June 19, 2008

Warmed up Left Overs

Superman Brainiac Attacks seems like a left over three part Superman the animated series. The problem with this supposed made for video movie is it has that left over feel.

Tim Daly again verbally dons the cape as Superman. The problem is his vocals seem tired and washed out. Lois, as voiced by Dana Delany, has very little to do, which is wrong.

The plot involving Brainiac getting help from Luthor. Greedy and self absorbed Luthor wanting to be a hero like Superman. A Phantom Zone sub plot. And of course Brainiac wanting to take over Earth, while Superman is in the Phantom Zone...did you get all that? If you did, you are at the head of the learning curve...Now try to watch it in a cartoon version...NOT A GOOD THING

The animation is standard TV animation, so it is not that special or worthy of a made for DVD presentation. However if you a fan of the animated Superman series, buy this to complete your collection

Bennet Pomerantz AUDIOWORLD May 24, 2008

It's alright

Not too much of a good film, but as a fan of Superman and Superman the Animated Series I nonetheless enjoyed it but it's not too inspiring and very short.

The story goes as Lex Luthor forms a dangerous alliance with the powerful computer/villain Brainiac. Using advanced weaponry and a special strain of Kryptonite harvested from the far reaches of outer space, Luthor specifically redesigns Brainiac to defeat the Man of Steel. But when Brainiac betrays Luthor and reveals its sinister plans for world domination and infects Lois Lane with a deadly Kryptonian disease Superman must brave the mysterious Phantom Zone to find the strength to survive this deadly showdown.

It's a very simple story that gets from point "A" to point "B" with no real detours. We know exactly how it'll end, so I know I'm not spoiling the movie when I say that Superman saves the day. It's just that how long it takes to get there, and Brainiac's unexplained arrival in the movie, is monotonous. While many consider the 73 minutes a short running time, you feel every single minute here. All of it. And the simple dialogue and tedious action just slows the movie down. I actually caught myself watching the timer on the DVD player to see how much time I had to endure of this. It's a simple story stretched a good 50 minutes too long.

Although it has the original voice actors from Superman the Animated Series, Lance Henriksen(Terminator 2:Judgment Day) plays the voice of Brainiac and that was probably the only best thing about this film. He really gave Brainiac an awesome voice.

This is a movie fit for the younger audience, obviously the target with this feature. It acts as a safe introduction to the more mature and dramatic DCAU. While I can't recommend it to fans of the animated Superman series or the DCAU, I know nothing I say here will deter anyone. Check it out, as I know most will, and make up your own mind. Personally, I found it to be underwhelming and simple, dragging to the bitter final seconds of the screen time. May 3, 2008

Not A Super Movie, But Still Good

This movie gets blown way out of what it is due to the really negative reviews, I actually thought it was a pretty good film. The thing that hurt this movie the most was what everyone else has said, Lex Luthor was horrible. They completely got rid of the serious and tough Lex seen on TAS and replaced him with a joke. The jokes were coming from Lex, and it hurt the movie since he shouldn't be the one to carry the jokes.

Besides that, I didn't have a problem with the movie. There were at least two continuity errors in the movie that was different from the TV series. One was that Lex did know Brainiac before this movie and the other being that Lois did kiss Superman before Clark. On the final episode of the TV series, Lois kissed Superman. On this movie, she tells Clark that she is surprised that she is kissing him before she kissed Superman. Those two small parts didn't bother me, no one said that it had to stay 100% true to the series.

It was definitely different to hear Lance H. play Brainiac, but I he did a good job. What I loved was the return of Tim Daly and Dana Delany. They are just as good as they ever were. Overall, a good movie that isn't has bad as everyone thinks it is. April 6, 2008

It's not as bad as you've been led to believe

After reading the overwhelmingly bad reviews, I had very low expectations going into this feature. However, I have to admit that it was much better than I had anticipated. On the plus side: the action is good and there are tons of fight scenes, the animation is slightly better than it was in the television series, the subplot involving Jimmy and Mercy is amusing, and the DVD presentation looks really nice. Now for the bad: this DVD has zero extras (unless you count French and Spanish subtitles or trailers for other DC/WB products), Lex Luthor is totally out of character and simply horrible (he's portrayed as a bumbling imbecile with terrible one-liners), they used different voice actors for Luthor and Brainiac (another mark against Lex), a lot of the dialog is corny and/or dimwitted, and the plot didn't really deserve a feature length treatment. All-in-all, this just feels like an average episode of the animated series that was drawn out into a feature length movie. March 10, 2008

More reviews at Amazon.com ...