All-Star Superman

Not "All-Star Superman"

This is not a picture of "All-Star Superman."  I don't write this in a René Magritte-sort of way.  This is a picture of a Mattel DC Universe Classics action figure based on the long-haired Superman from the 90's; this is the Superman who was brought back to life after his fight with Doomsday; this is the Superman who set off the current practice of killing and resurrecting characters on a whim (a.k.a. to sell comic books) ... and so this is the perfect picture for a piece on "All-Star Superman."

 The direct-to-video "All-Star Superman" is an animated adaptation of Grant Morrison's acclaimed 12-issue comic book series.  No spoilers here--that's as much as I'm going to write about the plot of the film.  A retelling of the plot isn't necessary to write what a marvelous film this is.  That's a bit strange, because the story is a large part of what makes "All-Star Superman" such an epic; I finished watching the film thinking, now that's how you tell a Superman story!  Yet in hindsight, it's not as much the content of the plot itself--most of the film was like a collection of vignettes, so much of the plot itself could be moved around/switched out with parts of the book that didn't make it into the movie--but rather how it was told, that made the film what it is.

The most beautiful scene in the movie is the scene in which [a character] experiences [his] moment of epiphany.  The pacing throughout that scene is done so wonderfully, taking the time to breathe throughout the denouement, instead of rushing through just because the action is over.  "All-Star Superman" is simply tremendous, to the point where appending "animated" to "film" almost seems to do it a disservice.  That's not meant as a slight to animation, but to the people who wouldn't watch this film just because it's animated.  "All-Star Superman" is simply the best Superman film that has ever been made.

I grew up with the long-haired Superman so in my mind this is what Superman looks like, in the same way that Batman looks like Michael Keaton wearing black eye-makeup.  Yet Batman will always sound like Kevin Conroy, and Superman will always be "All-Star Superman."