First of, I should say that the title of this latest animated feature is a bit of a misnomer. While Batman does feature, it would have been more accurate to call the film Superman/Supergirl Apocalypse, or even just Supergirl! As she is the main focus of the story. It doesn't make the film any less enjoyable, but just be warned that you get a lot less Bat for your buck than you might expect.
The story is based on "The Supergirl from Krypton", from the Superman/Batman monthly comic book title from 2004 by Jeph Loeb and Michael Turner and works as a sequel of sorts to the earlier animated film,
Public Enemies. It begins with Batman investigating a strange meteor crashing into Gotham Harbor. The meteor's occupant is a young Kryptonian named Kara Zor El, Superman's cousin. Both he and Batman take her in and attempt to get her used to her emerging powers and to fit in as an Earth Girl. But Darkseid, ruler of Apokalips has other ideas. He kidnaps Kara while she is undergoing training on Paradise Island. So Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman along with a reformed Big Barda(The First Captain of Darkseid's honour guard) travel to Apokalips to attempt to get her back, but find that Darkseid's powers of manipulation have turned Kara against her former friends.
I haven't read the comics upon which this is based so I can't say how faithfully it follows the story, although I have heard its pretty spot on. The Superman/Batman team up series never really did much for me. Although well written, I always preferred the two as begrudging allies with mutual respect rather than firm friends. That was one of teh reasons I though
Public Enemies was a bit disappointing. There were others of course. Like I said at the time, having Tim Daly and Kevin Conroy back to voice Supes and Bats is always a bonus and the two could voice those characters in their sleep, unfortunately that's exactly what they seemed to be doing at times in Public Enemies. Thankfully though, here they are back on form. Particularly Daly who has much more to do this time around than Conroy(Booo!). They receive ample support from Andre Braugher as Darkseid, Summer Glau as Kara Zor-El/Supergirl, Susan Eisenberg as Princess Diana/Wonder Woman, and Edward Asner as Granny Goodness. Glau at first seems like she might be a bit miscast(or her voice does anyway!) but she soon grows on you. Braugher, a veteran supporting actor, gets top billing here and although he seems a bit robotic at times his tones work very well for Darkseid. Eisenberg and Asner reprise their roles from countless tv animations and as expected do a bang up job. Its also a nice surprise(Or it was for me anyway!) to see Big Barda, here voiced very well by Julianne Grossman. The animation is pretty flawless too, but although there are slight variations in the style from movie to movie, DC animations never really disappoint in that area.
The story rockets along at a fare pace, again a staple of DC animations. In its 70 odd minute running time the action comes hard and fast. The pace only really lets up while Kara is on Earth and one sequence which sees Clark take her shopping does seem s a bit out of place, but then again this IS Supergirl's story and should rightly appeal to fans of that character as much as possible. I would assume many fans of her's are teenagers so those type of scenes aren't too hard to take, especially when we get such awesome action scenes later on. A 5 on 2 battle between Wonder Woman, Barda and The Furies on Apokalips and the final fight between Supes, Kara and Darkseid are definite highlights. The script is solid, if nothing special. I found there to be a lot more drama and build up of tension is many earlier films. Especially the Justice League centric ones.
But like I said, its really Supergirl's story and fans of hers should love it. But even if your not normally a big fan, I recommend you check this out. Its not up there with DC's best by any means and its not a patch on
Under The Red Hood, but I found it to be more enjoyable than
Public Enemies and all in all a highly entertaining flick.