Superman: Brainiac ataca

Animated by the same people who created the Superman animated television series we see our infinetly square jawed hero face off against a very poor looking Braniac.

In this very family friendly affair Superman must tangle with Braniac, a Lex Luthor scheme and deciding whether he can tell Lois his secret.

With an old school 1970's Superman soundtrack this almost feels nostalgic but is let down by it's excessive cutesy'ness and seven shades of generic.

The film has the vocal talents of the recently deceased Powers Booth and the film icon and legend Lance Henriksen who do a great job with the material they are presented with.

It's not awful, it's just not great either.

The Good:

Old school soundtrack

The Bad:

Really don't like the animation style

Braniac looks dumb

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

You know you have a problem with the protagonist when I'm cheering on the bad guy

The previews for this movie made it seem to be good, but the one thing I saw that was lacking, was how they portrayed Luthor. They made him out to be some kind of wuss. They had him making lame jokes, and scared how his image would be if his satellite destroyed Superman. This only gets a 5 because Superman was again voiced by Tim Daly and The rest of the original cast had returned. With the exception of Luthor and the voice of Brainiac. Who was making cheap cracks and smirking which I found a bit odd. I was going to buy this on DVD but I'll stick with the cartoon network airing.

That is all

I love Superman but you definitely shouldn't watch this after Superman: The Animated Series. It's got a lame plot, childish dialogue, and doesn't have anything new to offer.

It's Baby's First Superman.

Although I'm a college educated adult, I actually like the Superman, Batman and Justice League cartoon series (I'm sure I'm far from alone on this one). The plots have been excellent examples of sci-fi writing and can be quite clever,complex and entertaining. Not so this one. The vast majority of this movie consisted of Superman and Braniac pounding each other into the ground, throwing each other through buildings, etc. The encounters went on for so long I got bored and fastforwarded through the monotony. There is a weak plot that holds this together, but it's not strong enough to redeem it. The phrase "phoning it in" leaps to mind. If you're a Superman fan, you're going to be disappointed in this.

They get the majority of the voices (oddly enough not Clancy Brown despite his commitment to Justice League) from the Superman cartoon to return, but the writing is weak.

It didn't follow any of the cues or tone set by the animated series, instead the writer(s) ended up making this feel more like Superman of the George Reeve's era (plenty of "Gee Ms. Lane." moments and other trite dialog) and there was never a sense that anyone was in real danger. Unlike the show where they have killed off characters during major events.

Superman: Brainiac Attacks is a pretty weak showing and seems to be an attempt at cashing in on the imminent release of Superman Returns. Unless you're absolutely a Superman fan or are over the age of 12, you could let this easily pass up.