Superman/Batman: Apocalypse - 2/5

After the lackluster "Crisis Of Two Earths" and the stunningly good "Batman: Under The Red Hood", its getting hard to predict how these DC animated films are going to pan out. Normally, they are still pretty solid but "Superman/Batman: Apocalypse" comes off as one of the worst ones yet seemingly unable to find its focus on its plot lines. It has a few moments hear and there, but "Apocalypse" comes across as unsure of its footing and it hurts its overall presentation.

When a meteor hits in Gotham Bay, Batman discovers that there is one more survivor from the planet Krypton. Kara, aka Supergirl, is a young Kryptonian unsure of her powers and cousin to Superman. As Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman (wait...she isn't in the title?!) try to craft Kara and get her to control her powers, they stumble upon a plot by Darkseid to kidnap the new hero and use her for his own army. Now its 3 members of the Justice League that have to head to Darkseid's planet and get her back.

This film would have been 10 times better had they focused on the character aspect of Kara's coming of age tale instead of floundering it with the rather tacked on subplot of Darkseid and his new army. What starts off as an interesting plot about the guidance and heroics of being a super being and how to use your powers slowly degrades into some what childish games of just blowing things up and shooting lasers for the sake of it.

Granted, that plot line does add in some solid action sequences (more or less of a "wtf" quality) to keep the pace moving forward, but it feels like that was just added for that benefit. Except for the final battle and the throw down with the Furies, these action scenes aren't all that spectacular either. The balance of the actual story and the action just never clicks and it grows into a boring 'been there, seen that' kind of film.

DC animated films have been a usual solid choice, but "Apocalypse" just never gets the balance or vision of itself right. It had its moments, but it never fully grasps its potential. Could have been awesome, comes off as mediocre.

BONUS RANT: Why does Superman seem to be wearing eye liner in this animation? I wasn't huge on the animation to begin with, but the entire time I kept staring at his 'eye liner' eyes and thinking about how that was a big mistake. 

Written By Matt Reifschneider