ANI-MOVIES, *Superman: Unbound

Since his big-budget remake is about to hit theatres, it was timely that DC Universe decided to make their next release another "just Superman" title. Animation veteran Alan Burnett takes on as producer in this adaptation of the recent Superman: Braniac story arc from the comics by Geoff Johns, which was later collected into a graphic novel.

Set sometime after Supergirl first arrived on Earth, Superman encounters a strange alien android. After defeating it, he takes it to the Fortress of Solitude, which shocks Supergirl into remembering how the city of Kandor on Krypton was taken away by a powerful invader known as Brainiac. Fearing Earth might attacked by Brainiac, Superman heads out into space to hunt for him. After stopping him from destroying another world, Supes gets taken aboard Brainy's giant "skulltopus" ship, and comes face-to-face with the Martian Manhunter-lookalike himself. Brainiac shrinks Superman down into the now bottle city of Kandor, and meets Supergirl's parents. Superman manages to get big again, and takes Kandor with him back to Earth. Brainiac follows, and shrinks Metropolis. Superman and Supergirl team up to stop Brainiac, while taking on all the dangers of his ship. After pulling him literally down to Earth, Supers manages to overwhelm Brainiac with being exposed to all the elements of an actual thriving world instead of observing them within his little bottled cities. This shuts down the mad computer, although the stinger at the end indicates not permanently.

This was a well executed animated feature, and a definite step up from the Superman Vs. The Elite movie at least as far as animation quality. There were some things from this that were left out of the original story, like Pa Kent's death, and any ties to the rest of the DC Universe. Also, Superman restores Kandor on an alien planet with a red sun, instead of on Earth, which in the comic leads into the whole New Krypton story arc. The movie can be viewed as a slight sequel to Superman/Batman: Apocalypse, since it begins with a still fresh from space Supergirl, although it's apparent its trying to be its own entity. It's definitely worth a look if you're a big Superfan, but it also makes for a good sci-fi/superhero movie too.