Isadore SparberCritiques

2023 movie #52. 1939. The 2nd ever full-length animated movie and the first to use rotoscoping (for Gulliver). Some pretty clever animated scenes and an OK movie, except I didn't care for the music (which won Oscar nominations for original song and original score).

A cute telling of the Lilliput story, and I like the music. A short movie that the grandkids enjoyed despite its age.
I think one of the featured comic characters (Gabby, the night watchman) was a well-known cartoon personality of the day.

A mad scientist intends to destroy Metropolis with a giant ray gun.

In a perfect world, every super hero movie would aspire to be as awesome as this.

Concept: B
Story: D
Characters: C
Dialog: C
Pacing: B
Cinematography: A
Special effects/design: A
Acting: C
Music: B

Enjoyment: A plus

GPA: 2.9/4

(Nov. 2013)½

Superman vs. an army of robot thieves.

Only two cartoons into the series, and already it's too repetitive. It doesn't do anything that the first one didn't do, and it doesn't do it quite as well. Still awesome, though. If I'd seen this one first, I probably would have loved it.

Concept: C
Story: D
Characters: C
Dialog: C
Pacing: B
Cinematography: A
Special effects/design: A
Acting: C
Music: B

Enjoyment: B

GPA: 2.6/4½

Superman vs. a Superman impersonator.

Pretty good. It's amusing to see some criminals for once that have taken precautions against the inevitable arrival of Superman. Lois doesn't get anything to do, though.

Concept: B
Story: C
Characters: C
Dialog: C
Pacing: B
Cinematography: B
Special effects/design: C
Acting: C
Music: B

Enjoyment: B

GPA: 2.5/4½

Superman vs. ammunition factory saboteurs.

Some good action, featuring more Lois Lane than Superman. Plus Clark Kent, Master of Disguise. They never did bother to mention why any of this was happening, though.

Concept: C
Story: D
Characters: C
Dialog: C
Pacing: B
Cinematography: B
Special effects/design: B
Acting: D
Music: B

Enjoyment: B

GPA: 2.3/4½

Superman vs. Egyptian giants.

90% exposition. There is literally enough exposition here for a feature film. What were they thinking?

Concept: C
Story: F
Characters: C
Dialog: F
Pacing: F
Cinematography: C
Special effects/design: C
Acting: C
Music: C

Enjoyment: D

GPA: 1.3/4½

Sharp-edged animation plus taut story-telling.½

76 min