I'm just-a rubbin' my hands together in anticipation of another episode of Johnnie's Epic Animation Revieeeeeew!

How's that for an over the top intro?smiley: laugh

OK,I've been looking forward to some new SH animation,and the first offering I have today is SUPERMAN UNBOUND.Now I'll be honest.I've never been a huge fan of Brainiac to begin with.He seems to be vastly overused in animation,so I wasn't initially thrilled that he was the villain chosen yet again. (though,I'm probably even more sick of Darksied at this point)
.Brainiac looks a bit more like his original concept.(Green skin,wearing purple) The design for Supe was a bit off,but the rest of the characters looked pretty good.
There's not much here that we haven't seen before.Supe smashes through robots,tears through spaceships,etc.I did like the return of the original concept of Brainiac stealing cities,such as the bottled City of Kandor,which I believe was never seen in animation before.I liked seeing Supes interact with Supergirl's parents in Kandor as well.

The rest is not really all that compelling.Lois and Clark bicker,Supergirl has a super-sized chip on her shoulder and would rather deal with North Korea or Somalia than Metropolis,and Supes seems a bit more mean spirited here.(Maybe it's me being "old fashioned" again,but I don't think I could see Superman telling anyone to "go to h***") It seems like the writers throw stuff like that (and Lois giving Braniac the bird) just to prove these aren't "kiddie" cartoons,but to me it's unneeded and juvenile.

Bottom Line:It's a mixed bag.Not awful.If you can find it on sale (it was going for $4 in Best Buy before Christmas and I spent $16 for it! smiley: eyes) give it a shot,but you'd be better off going with THE FLASHPOINT PARADOX.(How's that for a segway? smiley: happy) It's the story of the Flash awaking to an alternate reality where he's without his powers, Batman uses guns,Wonder Woman and her Amazons are at war with Aquaman and his Atlantians,and Superman is nowhere to be found.I found this story to be quite compelling.It's very dark and bleak,but given the subject, it plays well.The story also goes into the Flash's new origin (briefly alluded to in Arrow) of his mother's murder.

It's cool to see Flash get the spotlight in animation.It's long overdue given how many DVD films Superman,Batman and even Green Lantern have!The film tends to meander a bit in the last act with endless battles & killing that could've been toned down a bit,but overall,I found it very enjoyable.The BluRay (Yes I got the BluRay this time.They were going at the same price,so why not?) has a cool feature on the Flash's famous Rogues Gallery that was very entertaining.

Another plus is the inclusion of the original cast in the film. (Kevin Conroy as Batman,Dana Delany as Lois Lane,etc) I don't want to say much as to not spoil it for those who haven't seen it or read the comic story,but it's definitely worth a look.

Wait till I get my violin!

Check out my comic The Adventures of Bullets Bourbon, Private Eye and my blog/website:
http://johnnie27jb.wix.com/bulletsbourboncomics
Edited 1 time by Johnnie Dec 30 13 6:09 PM.