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Fun animated movie based on an enjoyable comic book story by Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness. The story has Lex Luthor becoming President of the United States (!) and using his new authority to go after Superman. Batman steps in to help his buddy and the two find themselves pursued by their government and their friends. A solid script with nice banter and one-liners. Not as meaty as the original story but still good. There's some subtext about patriotism and the difference between loyalty to country vs loyalty to government. But, for the most part, this is just an exciting action story with lots of superheroes and supervillians and big fight scenes. Nothing at all wrong with that.
The voicework is excellent with Kevin Conroy, Clancy Brown, Tim Daly, and CCH Pounder all handling the characters they have perfected so well. In addition there's solid work from Xander Berkeley, Allison Mack, LeVar Burton, and many others. The animation is fluid, colorful, and bright. The story is smarter than it had to be, which I appreciate. It probably plays better to fans but I think the uninitiated can still enjoy it. I'm not a big supporter of the direction DC animation has taken in recent years. I loved their stuff from the '90s and early '00s but lately they only seem concerned with appealing to the lowest common denominator. This one was made after their prime but when there was still a little bit of magic left. Very entertaining and packed with action.
7/10
