The story was heavily edited of course which was expected already due to the time constraints. But somehow they managed to keep the essence and more importantly, the heart of the story intact.
I'd heavily recommend this to anyone and everyone. It certainly makes up for the Superman: Doomsday POS. And then some.
The only real liberty they took story-wise is a minor one with the mission to Mars. In it (SPOILERS)
* * * *
* * * * * *
Hal Jordan goes along on the mission with Rick Flagg and is rescued by Superman, ALIVE, rather than in a flaming carcass like Flagg in the comic book. It sort of made sense from a simply dramatic POV but it totally negates the awe of Jordan becoming Green Lantern and finally seeing the stars.
I also missed seeing Flash say "why" to Faraday as they try to decoy and catch him. That was a great dramatic moment in the comic that would have easily fit in seeing as how they animated that scene. Why they omitted the question is beyond me..
I'd also have liked to have seen Edward R. Murrow's scene as it packed a resonant punch in the comic as well. And most mystifying of all, I wonder why the entire death of King Faraday was rewritten to have him die like Johnny Cloud rather than the way he did saving Jonn. It seemed a poor way to try to merge two different stories.
I'd have liked to have seen the Losers and the John Henry story animated but at least they were included in microfilm slides. And the ending could have been a bit more visually dramatic IMO instead of just being a series of still photos of the comic book. The photos wouldn't have bothered me too much either if they at least went with Kennedy's speech like they did in the book.
* * * * * * * * * * * *(end SPOILERS)
And finally they do make reference to politics in he film but try to sugar coat it as the fear and paranoia not being limited to political parties. Which judging from now and the 50's paranoia that New Frontier comments on and mirrors for us, is frankly bullshit.. The Republicans were behind the McCarthy era and the Republicans are behind the current era of fear and distrust. If you're commenting on one particular era to comment on the current one, it's sort of bullshit to try to make it a universal failing rather than showing 2 instances of the same party riding out and exploiting fear and suspicion. IMO. Especially when in the story, the light at the end of the tunnel is clearly the Kennedy administration.
Total geek out moments are the times like when you see Green Lantern's origin with Abin Sur, the 1st time The Guardians of The Universe talk to Hal, a still cameo and spoken reference to the JSA, seeing Robin and a retro Batcave, and just the million or so little details sprinkled about the cartoon that any DCU fanboy will love..
It's quite obvious that the producers put a lot of thought and effort in preserving the source material this time around. So while it skimps on a lot of the meat of the original story, it stays true to it nonetheless.
Overall, it deserves a strong A, 5 ***** or whatever you use to rate top notch stuff.
