DarthBill Plot in a nutshell - set in what is not apparently in sync with the rest of the DCAU continuity established by Bruce Timm, we find that Superman (voiced again by Tim Daly, who was missing in action for Justice League, where Superman was voiced by George Newbern) has decided he should tell Lois Lane (Dana Delany) his secret, but Brainiac (exit Corey Burton, enter Lance Henriksen) is back and has allied himself with Lex Luthor (exit Clancy Brown, enter Powers Boothe who did the voice of Gorilla Grodd on Justice League) to destroy Superman and take over the world. Lois is infected by a strange virus, and Superman must venture into the Phantom Zone to find the cure. Will he make it back in time to thwart Brainiac? Not as horrible as everyone says, but this direct to DVD feature, undeniably a marketing tool to help promote "Superman Returns", did make some serious mistakes. The most noticeable mistake was the decision to replace Clancy Brown with Powers Boothe as the voice of Lex Luthor and, even worse, the decision to play Luthor as an over the top ham like Gene Hackman instead of playing him as a real villain. Boothe was a good Grodd on "Justice League", but he's a poor substitute for Brown when it comes to Lex Luthor. Lance Henriksen's not as bad as Brainiac, but his performance is harmed by making wisecracks that Brainiac had not made when he was voiced by Corey Burton and by the usual suspects of Bruce Timm and his cronies. That leads to the other mistake - not using Bruce Timm, who all these long, undoubtedly lonely years has devoted himself to carving out the DCAU. While this feature isn't full blown terrible, it's weak in certain places that it probably would not have been if Bruce and his henchmen had been in the driver's seat, such as Superman's analysis at the end of why it's okay for him to be around Lois no matter what kind of insanity surrounds them (reportedly the feature was written by one of the writers for "The Batman").Still, it was good to hear Tim Daly doing Superman's voice again, even if he did get saddled with unflattering dialogue. Nothing against George Newbern, as George got a lot better as "League" went along, but like I said, it's always good to hear Daly's Superman. It's also always good to hear Dana Delany as the voice of Lois Lane, and she probably got some far worse lines than Daly did here. Animation was well done for the most part with the Phantom Zone, and the Superman VS. Brainiac fights, especially half-way through and at the end when Superman is fighting the giant mecha-Brainiac, were well staged.Probably will appeal more to little kids than the older fans who grew up with Bruce Timm's stuff.

paulo20 First off, though it's nice to have Tim Daly back as Supes (not that there's anything wrong with the voice acting of George Newbern), Clancy Brown and no Corey Burton (as Lex Luthor and Brainiac, respectively) are absent, so it loses points there. In their place are Powers Boothe and Lance Henriksen. Boothe is certainly no Clancy Brown (though he makes a good Gorilla Grodd), but Henriksen, as Brainiac, is particularly bad; less than a pale shadow of Corey Burton. I would say the lack of proper voice talent alone is enough to give this a miss. But anyway, moving on...The story is...not so good. Actually, there are 3 annoying things about it: 1) It forgets that Brainiac is, himself, from Krypton, at least in the SM Animated series. He appears in Superman's very first episode. 2) It ignores any continuity from the Superman and JLU series. I know it was never intended to but that doesn't make it any less lame. To be specific, Lex Luthor and Brainiac were already allies, in both series, with results far, far, better than what's seen here (and that may actually be an understatement). So it's hard to see why anyone would be impressed with this story. 3) It's boring and thin (the story, that is). Much of the time is taken up with Superman and the Brainiac robot (which sports a terrible design) thrashing the tar out of each other and lots of missiles and beams being shot all over the place. Besides that, there seems to be no motive for Brainiac's destructive rampage. His M.O. is to absorb the data of planets and then destroy the planets themselves so that he is the sole possessor of said knowledge. Here he just goes around Metropolis shooting things. He even spouts clichés and...laughs. It's all really rather dull and pointless.Characterizations are not very good either. As mentioned, Brainiac just goes on a destructive binge for no apparent reason. The characterizations of Superman, Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen are a bit flawed, too, but most apparent is that of Lex Luthor. Instead of the arrogant, sinister figure we've seen in the series, here we get a clown. It's almost as if Luthor has sustained some sort of brain damage and has turned into some sort of idiot savant.That leaves the animation, the only saving grace for this rather pointless exercise. But it's not reason enough to watch this (at least not more than once), not when you get the same quality animation with JLU, etc. only paired with much better stories.

moviefan1725-1 Of course this movie was made to capitalize on the release of Superman Returns. What's wrong with that? I say...nothing. Brainiac Attacks is a fun and fast moving adventure story. The epic battles are truly fun to watch. The animation is the same as you see on the animated series, and on Justice League. Tim Daly returns as the voice of Clark/Superman, as does Dana Delany as Lois. Lance Henricksen takes on the role of Brainiac, and while he may not have the smooth coolness the character used to have, his gravelly voice is menacing nonetheless, and he does a great job. If I have one complaint about the movie, it's with Lex Luthor. He's not the same character he used to be. He's far more aloof, and even a bit of a clod. He's not as menacing, and seems to go for the joke too often. He does get a couple of good lines, however. During a huge battle with Brainiac, Superman ends up face to face with Lex who gives him a "Rootin' for ya, my man!". That was quite funny. But it's not Clancy Brown who reprises his role as Lex. Powers Boothe takes over, and while he's a good actor, he's not really right for Lex. He does a serviceable job, but it would have been MUCH better with Brown. So if you are a fan of the animated series, there is much to enjoy here. Unless of course, you can't get around the whole Lex thing. It's a good rent.

stargazer_1682 What do you get when you merge Grodd, The Joker and Lex Luthor? Lex in Brainiac attack's; a man with Grodd's voice, Lex's body and Joker's bad sense of humor. Maybe they were trying to channel Gene Hackman's version of Lex, but it doesn't work; largely because this Lex is already well established as a dry, conservative business man and this Lex comes off as something of a caricature of that character. But I gotta admit, I laughed when Superman comes back, everyone screams out, "It's Superman" and Lex whimpers, "yay" At first I was going to say I was disappointed with his trip to the phantom zone, getting what he needed and heading back so quickly and without any trouble. I don't know why I was fooled, maybe it was underestimating the writing ability of the people behind this movie. All in all, it wasn't really bad, in some places it could have been better though. Especially where the villains were concerned, they seemed to have the old school mentality, with views of world domination, maniacal laughing and throwing punches rather than try to out think Superman. I definitely think it was unnecessary to change Brainiac's look. I'm not ungrateful for this installment though. This is still within the same continuity as Superman TAS and the Justice League; and with those regular series over with now, I'm hoping there will be plenty of future movies like this coming out. Maybe with any luck, a Batman movie with Kevin Conroy or Batman/Superman team up. I am disappointed though, that as usual Clark always chickens out, in every incarnation, to tell Lois the truth about his identity. It's like pulling teeth with him and he usually uses the worst logic; namely "Her knowing the truth will only put her in danger from my enemies". Well, guess what champ, she's usually in danger anyway, as you, yourself figured out at the end of this movie.