HuffPost Review: Superman/Batman: Public Enemies (2009)

Superman/Batman: Public Enemies
2009
67 minutes
Rated PG-13 (for action violence throughout and a crude comment)
Available on September 29th on DVD, Blu Ray, On-Demand, and iTunes download

by Scott Mendelson

Superman/Batman: Public Enemies is the Star Trek: Insurrection of the DCAU animated features. There wasn't anything really wrong with that ninth Star Trek film, but it still feels like little more than a two-part episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. And if Public Enemies was merely a three-part episode of Superman: The Animated Series, it would be a good one. But it falls short as a stand-alone movie. It's certainly entertaining, colorful, and quite action packed. But it's also lacking in logical narrative and dramatic impact. The original comic book story that this is based on was the pay-off for nearly five-years of Superman story-arcs. However bubble-gum silly and widescreen spectacular the Jeph Loeb story was, it was preceded by years of build-up that gave the climax real weight. Without that continuity, this feature spin-off is the first DC Animated Universe original movie that truly feels like just a cartoon.

Some plot - Economic and social strife has left America so desperate that Lex Luthor himself now sits in the Oval Office. It would seem on the surface that Luthor has finally realized that the best revenge was living well, as he sits not on a hotbed of corruption but a stable economy and a safer populace. Superman can only seethe in the corner as he half-heartedly stops whatever crimes and/or accidents still occur in Metropolis. But trouble looms as a kryptonite meteor is apparently headed toward Earth. But a call for help from President Luther and the Man of Steel ends in tragedy and leaves Superman wounded and implicated in the murder of a super villain. Now with both heroes and villains hunting down the last son of Krypton, he turns to the only hero who still completely trusts him, the Dark Knight himself. Now Superman and Batman must unite to clear Superman's name and save the Earth from approaching disaster.

Unfortunately, once the plot is established around the twenty-minute mark, the remaining forty-five minutes give way to one super-powered smack-down after another. Character and plot logic goes out the window for a stream of epic battle scenes between Superman and Batman vs this pack of heroes or that pack of villains. The cameos are numerous (even Hush makes an inexplicable experience, which makes no sense if you know anything about the character), but the film's brief 67-minute running time leaves little room for plot or any real substance in between the fight scenes. What time there is for plot is spent explicitly explaining things that were taken for granted in the comics (and should be taken for granted in a fan-friendly adaptation such as this). This results in a flurry of rushed and on-the-nose exposition for a story that just doesn't have the time.

What does work is the character interplay between Batman and Superman. While this movie is obviously missing the back-and-forth thought bubbles that were a trademark of the Superman/Batman comic series in its early days, enough of the memorable wordplay makes its way onto the screen. And it's obviously fun to see Kevin Conroy (Batman), Tim Daly (Superman), Clancy Brown (Lex Luthor), and CCH Pounder (Amanda Waller) return to their animated series roles. Although that only makes it incredibly distracting when certain characters show up who have new voices this time around (for example, Alfred is inexplicably not voiced by Efrem Zimbalist Jr.). And furthermore, am I the only one who wonders just why George Newbern gets so little respect? The guy voiced a darn-solid Superman in 60 episodes of Justice League from 2001 to 2005. That's actually more than Daly, who voiced Superman from 1996-1999 in 52 episodes of Superman: The Animated Series. On the plus side, like in Batman: Arkham Asylum, Kevin Conroy is a more natural and low-key Batman than any time prior to Justice League.

In the end, this feature is as light as a feather, without the years of comic-book back story to make it more potent than it otherwise would be. Even the climax feels limper and more perfunctory, and the story alterations feel unnecessary and drain what emotional impact there was in the first place. If you want to watch an hour of Clancy Brown hamming it up and our two favorite heroes laying waste to much of the DC universe, then you'll get your fill. But this entry feels more like the Lionsgate Ultimate Avengers cartoons than the more artistically ambitious DCAU products. It lacks the ambition of Justice League: The New Frontier, the scope and angry feminism of Wonder Woman, and the noirish qualities of Green Lantern: First Flight. It's certainly more entertaining that Batman: Gotham Knights, but I expect better from the Timm/Burnett universe.

Grade: B-

The Blu Ray:
The image is hurts-your-eyes colorful and perfectly fits the cotton-candy nature of the story. The sound was just fine on my English 2.0 mono system. As for the extras, we have the usual 20-minute featurette on the dual natures of Batman and Superman, as well as spotlights on the prior DCAU titles. We have two bonus episodes of Superman: The Animated Series (the hilarious "Knight Time" and the dreadful "The Demon Reborn") as well as the four-part 'Cadmus' arc that closed out the stellar fourth season of Justice League (at around 85 minutes, it's just plain better than the main feature in nearly every way). We have a sneak preview of the next feature, Justice League: Crisis On Two Earths, a multi-verse story that apparently started as a planned story arc for the Justice League animated series. Best of all, we have a whopping fifty-five minute round-table 'dinner with DCU' interview with Bruce Timm, Andrea Romano, Gregory Novick, and Kevin Conroy. This segment is by itself worth the purchase or at least rental of the Blu Ray (the DVD version is allegedly shorter). It's a wonderfully insightful and funny conversation about everything from the origins of Batman: The Animated Series to the casting of Public Enemies. You'll love Kevin Conroy's story involving an encounter with a homeless person outside of his local post office.

We have a merely so-so movie, but with a glorious transfer and genuinely compelling extras. If you collect this stuff out of habit, I won't stop you this time. But casual fans might want a rental first. Superman/Batman: Public Enemies is not a patch on the better DCAU films or cartoon shows, but it's pretty entertaining in its own right. For more information, go to the official site.

Movie - B-
Video - A
Audio - NA
Extras - B+

Follow Scott Mendelson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ScottMendelson

Comments

[Pathophile]

I liked this one the best so far, with GL First Flight as a not too close second. And yes, it was pretty much b/c of the Bats and Supes interaction and voice casting. Power Girl (nice Smallville tie-in) was, um, impressive too. At least my husband was really impressed.
I was not disappointed with the extras either. The dinner with Kevin Conroy segment was maximus cool to see.

[getoffthecross]

After Superman: Doomsday, I've been reluctant to pick up a lot of the DC animated fare. That piece was so insipid and violent, it felt like The Passion of the Christ starring Superman. However, I'm a fan of the Justice League series, and just enough of a geek to appreciate loads of cameo heroes and villains just for the sake of it. Thank goodness for rentals.

BTW: I don't know if you read the Justice League vs. Avengers crossover they put out a little while ago, but THAT would be something to see animated. Especially if they could somehow reproduce George Perez's illustration style. BAM!

[LLNYRN]

I'm glad you bought up art style reproduction in your post. Because I forgot to mention that in regards to Ed McGuniness' work on the "Superman/Batman: Public Enemies" series on which this film was based. Though it was a bit stilted in spots, I loved that the animators took time out to reproduce (as best they can) McGuiness' art.

It was said a while back that one of the DCAU's future projects would be an animated adaption of The Teen Titans' "THE JUDAS CONTRACT" storyline. And that George Perez's style would be animated for that film.

Personally, I would love to see animation take this route. Instead of everything looking the same a la Anime. Comic fans forget that Alex Toth served as inspiration and worked on "THE SUPERFRIENDS" series.

Can you imagine seeing Jack Kirby's style animated?
Alex Ross?

[getoffthecross]

You can actually "see" Kirby's style in those old Marvel cartoons they did in the 70s. It's prehistoric in terms of animation, but it's a kick-and-a-half when you see them again after a long separation.

Ross' Marvels or Kingdom Come?? THAT would be ridiculous! (In a great way)

I LOVE that old Teen Titans series. "Who is Donna Troy" is still one of the most powerful stories from that era. Almost anything Wolfman and Perez collaborated on during that time would be very sweet to see on the screen. I hope you're right about it being in the works. Thanks!

[jsgaetano]

"even Hush makes an inexplicable experience, which makes no sense if you know anything about the character"

If it's anything like the comic, it's explicable because ALL those villains were there because Gorilla Grod was mind controlling them.

However, was Hush even around at that point in the comic's timeline? Obviously it doesn't matter as much because it's DCAU, but still.

Who knows, maybe they wanted to introduce the character so they could do the Hush storyline as an animated feature.

[Scott Mendelson - Huffpost Blogger]

Without going into too many spoilers, you might be right about the reason for Hush's involvement. If so, I retract my minor nitpick and blame the sheer flurry of nonstop combat that made me lose track of who was motivated by what. Thanks for the reminder.

[ramblingjohnny]

If this was a test balloon to see if a live action with both character could work it an epic fail!

[LLNYRN]

I will agree that the film was far too short.
Many situations were not given adequate time to be fleshed out.
But D**N if this wasn't one of the most fun free-for-alls I've seen of a comics adaption.

One of the things that made it for me was the treatment of the Superman/Batman relationship. Word on the web is that some fans felt that aspect bordered on "gay" in this film. But for me, their relationship was truly acknowledged for a change in this medium.

And the action was totally engaging and non-stop.
I was screaming like a kid, when all these DCU characters were coming out of nowhere like a "who's who".

Gotta give DC props for doing their Direct-To-DVD features right. Timm, Dini, Burnett, Walker, Berkowitz, Romano, and Walker, have tapped into what makes these characters iconic. These people actually CARE about the DCU. The MARVEL animated features have failed to do that IMHO.

[jsgaetano]

It was based on the Superman/Batman comics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman/Batman

Personally, I like the Jeph Loeb issues best (but then I'm a big fan of Jeph Loeb's Batman works, especially The Long Halloween and Dark Victory).