Superman: Le Crépuscule d'un Dieu

I never read the comic books but I enjoyed the Animateds SEries and the JLA on TV so I bought this DVD and watched it. It was okay for what it was. This is definitely an adult cartoon. With lots of violence but I guess so is the JLA and JLA unlimited, even though some young kids watch it. But this movie was very weak. Number one I didn't like the animation of Superman. I didn't get the reason for all the lines in his face. Lex Luther though voiced okay was too thin and not imposing enough. I have read that some other superheroes try to take Superman's place after he dies. That would have been interesting. I agree with another comment that refers to an episode of the JLA where they did a funeral for superman. It was done a whole lot better there. So this was just average. 5/10

The start is really good. Well, except for every second spent on secondary characters or Clark Kent. Luthor, Doosmday and Superman create a really great start (30 minutes, more or less). Visually, it's specially good what they do with Doomsday, to recreate the horror that a monster like it would generate. Some shots are basically horror movie type of shots and work so well. (By the way, the criticism of Man of Steel "destructive and un-protective Superman" got even more stupid for me after watching this animated movie, with an even more reckless Superman). After the clash of these Titans, the pace slows down way too much and with understandably low IQ dialogue (movie for kids), bad jokes and the focus on the "wrong characters", the movie gets super boring. It finally gets better entering the third act, with a didactic but good and entertaining exposition of what makes Superman the hero, super hero, he is, and how important his mindset is besides his physical prowess. The conclusion gets a bit repetitive, but it's fine. The voice actors are terrible and all that isn't Superman or villains related, awful. But the start amazing and the ending fine. It's fine.

Not disappointing, Superman vs Doomsday delivers some good action, but there are some plot holes and oddities in the script which made me feel the plot wasn't supposed to play like this and some of the subplots seemed rushed and some key questions(aftermath) were left unanswered.

Thus this movie did not give me everything I had expected and hoped. It's also important to note that this isn't really a kids movie.

If you liked Doomsday, I also highly recommend to watch the animated Justice League episodes "A Better World" and Justice League Unlimited "Doomsday Sanction" if you want to see more, and in my opinion better Doomsday action.

2018's "The Death of Superman" is a far superior Superman vs Doomsday movie but this one is still really good. This movie is surprisingly dark for its PG-13 rating. At times, it feels like a horror movie with its monstrous Doomsday and creepy Toyman portrayers. While Superman comes off as a little dry, the romance between him and Lois adds much needed depth to his character.

So many years, so many attempts at bringing this story arc to the movie format, so many talented people who at one point or another were involved in the project and after all their combined efforts we are left with a light animated version of one of the greatest superman stories ever told.

It is hard to judge this movie as a stand alone piece and ignore all the background explored in the comics, and all the drama and money spent over the course of more than a decade. As Bruce Timm put it in a promotional interview for this release "There is just so much story there, we can't do this in a movie", this adaptation had to be stripped down to its very basics to fit the 70-minute time frame given to the producers.

The movie itself works, it has a good pace and I think the viewers appreciate the effort put into not making it a kid movie but rather a more truthful adaptation of the graphic novel, the PG-13 rating proves it. The animation is excellent, the music makes the character shine with the heroism and the voice actors (except for Anne Heche) seem perfect for their parts.

What intrigues me the most is why after producing Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League, Timm and company didn't adapt this huge story arc to their animated series? It would have been perfect, they would have had time to include and adapt all the major stories from the comic books and truly explore this event. Instead they went for a straight to DVD feature that feels quite shallow.