Superman: Brainiac Attacks (2006) (V)

Director:

Curt Geda

Writers:

Duane Capizzi (screenplay)
Duane Capizzi (story)

Release Date:

20 June 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Action

Tagline:

Two Enemies Unite To Destroy The Man Of Steel

Plot:

Embittered by Superman's heroic successes and soaring popularity, 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. |

Plot Keywords:

Superman | Perry White

Cast

Tim Daly	...	Clark Kent / Superman (voice)
Powers Boothe	...	Lex Luthor (voice)
Dana Delany	...	Lois Lane (voice)
Lance Henriksen	...	Brainiac (voice)
George Dzundza	...	Perry White (voice)
David Kaufman	...	Jimmy Olsen (voice)
Mike Farrell	...	Jonathan Kent (voice)
Shelley Fabares	...	Martha Kent (voice)
Roger Rose	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Cynthia Songe	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Tara Strong	...	Mercy Graves / Additional Voices (voice)
Fred Tatasciore	...	Additional Voices (voice)

Runtime:

76 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:Unrated

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Quotes:

[last lines]
Clark Kent: I think Lois will be just fine as long as Superman and Clark Kent are here to look out for.

Movie Connections:

Follows "Superman" (1996)

Not Worth Your Time

A new Superman movie brings back Tim Daly from Superman: The Animated Series to voice the world's biggest Boy Scout. Unfortunately, that's almost all of the good news about this movie. The plot is thin, the jokes are bad, and the characters are, well, out of character.

Brainiac Attacks finds our superhero dealing with a returned Brainiac and a scheming Lex Luthor (no change there). The movie also attempts to catch some attention with Clark Kent's biggest question: should he tell Lois Lane that he is also Superman? It was an excellent device, but it seems that Superman is very human when it comes to love. He painfully bumbles his way through the love story, throwing a relationship cliché here and a lovesick sigh there. Actually, his reasoning oftentimes eerily mimics that of Peter Parker's.

I take that back. "Mimics" doesn't do it justice. "Completely and totally copies every bit of Spiderman's reasoning" better describes the debates Superman has with his computer in the Fortress of Solitude and with his adopted parents. It gives a sort of retread feel to the movie.

The villains in this movie are obnoxious. Lex Luthor now constantly frets about his image and cracks dumb jokes, then gets mad when nobody in the movie finds them funny. Brainiac smirks and glares like an emotionless, living machine never should. Mercy is true to her near-robotic state of lap-doggery for Lex. Jimmy, the intrepid photographer, was an excellently developed character in this movie (despite his annoying tendency to narrate his own actions), as was Lois Lane, but sapping the villains of their comic mythos does this movie in.

I wish I could at least say the production values of the movie would be a high point, but the animation feels dated. Faces seems to radically change shape, depending on the viewing angle the movie is shown from. Superman is more anatomically realistic than how he was drawn in the Justice League series, but, in my opinion, it sucks some style from him. The entire movie has a less-than-realistic, cartoony-type feel that I definitely do not prefer.

Overall, Brainiac Attacks doles out cheap (non)laughs and mangles previously enjoyable villains, while failing to grip the viewer with excitement over either a great action plot or great love story. The idea was good, but the execution was terrible.