Over the years, many different superheroes have been created for comic books, with some being much more popular and successful than others.  Superman has been one of the most popular superhero characters since his creation by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.   In 2006, Look, Up in the Sky! - The Amazing Story of Superman was made about the character.

Look, Up in the Sky! - The Amazing Story of Superman is a documentary about the history of Superman made by Bryan Singer and Kevin Burns.  It was released on DVD in June of 2006 just before the release of Superman Returns.  A shorter version of the documentary aired on A & E that month as well, which is how I first saw it.  The documentary was included as part of the fourteen disc Superman Ultimate Collector's Edition that came out in November of 2006.

Look, Up in the Sky! - The Amazing Story of Superman shares all sorts of information about Superman, from the creation of the character, up through the release of Superman Returns in 2006.  Various things related to the character are discussed, including how real world events impacted the popularity of the character.  Kevin Spacey, Lex Luthor in the new movie, serves as the narrator for the documentary.

The first several minutes of Look, Up in the Sky! - The Amazing Story of Superman basically serves as an introduction.  An overview of the information that will be covered in the documentary is shared while various Superman images are shown.  The first bits of interviews with some people about the character are also shown during this part.  The documentary really gets started when the creation of the character by Siegel and Shuster is discussed.  Both of them were living in Cleveland at that time, and it wasn't included that Shuster was originally from Toronto.  Throughout this part of the documentary, many images from the early comic books and comic strips were shown, including what looked like some of the original sketches by Siegel and Shuster.  The information is very interesting and I learned several new things about this period of Superman history.

Look, Up in the Sky! - The Amazing Story of Superman shares some information about the other various forms of media that Superman was featured in, like a radio show, more comic books, merchandise, cartoons, and movie serials.  A little bit from the radio show is heard and there are clips from the cartoons and serials shown.  Some images from the comic books continue to turn up as well.  A lot of time is devoted to the television show Adventures of Superman, which makes sense considering how popular the show was and how important it was for the character.  Newer interviews with the few cast members still alive are shown.  Things about George Reeves, the actor who played Clark/Superman in the series, are shared as well, including his death and how that impacted things.  Some other interviews feature people talking about how much they loved the show as children and how they reacted to Reeves's death.  More potential projects are mentioned, usually with some footage tied to the project included.  In 1966, there was even a musical about Superman on Broadway that I hadn't heard of before.  The show didn't run very long, though it was later turned into a special that aired on ABC with Lesley Ann Warren as Lois.  Some clips from that special are shown and it looks like it was done on a very limited budget and was rather campy.  I did like learning about the other Superman projects that I hadn't heard about.

Look, Up in the Sky! - The Amazing Story of Superman spends a lot of time sharing information about the four movies starring Christopher Reeve.  Ilya Salkind, one of the producers of the movies, is shown talking about the making of the movies.  His father was also a producer for the movie.  The decision to film two movies at once is mentioned, something that I hadn't realized before watching this documentary for the first time.  The casting is discussed and bits from some of the screen tests are shown.  I hadn't realized that so many actresses, like Ann Archer and Stockard Channing, had tried out for the part of Lois.  From the footage shown, I don't think any of the other actresses would have worked right in the part.  Footage from a new interview with Margot Kidder is shown which has her talking about the part and things related to the filming, like how hard it was to film the flying scenes.  Footage from a screen test with Christopher Reeve is shown, and he does seem to fit the part very well even that early in the process.  Some of the problems in the production are talked about, like the friction between director Richard Donner and the Salkinds, including the Salkinds replacing Donner with Richard Lester for the second movie even though 70% of it was already finished.  Things about the other two movies, which weren't as successful or well received, are brought up.  Ilya Salkind blames Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, which he and his father weren't involved with, for killing the Superman movies.  He wouldn't admit that Superman III really hurt the series despite it having made a lot of money.  I think it made so much because people expected it to be more like the first two movies.  As far as I'm concerned, the movies started going downhill as soon as the Salkinds replaced Donner and Salkind is in serious denial about how he and his father screwed up the movies with their decisions.

Look, Up in the Sky! - The Amazing Story of Superman returns to being focused on the comic books again for a while, discussing the reboot of the series.  The fact that Clark actually tells Lois he is Superman and their engagement is brought up.  The Death of Superman storyline is touched on, though not in a lot of detail.  The beginning of the show Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman in 1993 is discussed.  The marriage of Lois and Clark in the comic book in October of 1996 is discussed as well, along with how some people still aren't happy about that development.  I happen to like that development.  Images from the comic book are shown and some of the writers and artists talk about working on the story.  The new cartoon and the show Smallville are discussed, as is Christopher Reeve's death in 2004.  Various people, including his mother, are shown talking about him.  

Things start to wind down when Look, Up in the Sky! - The Amazing Story of Superman talks about the development and filming of Superman Returns.  Bryan Singer is shown talking about the movie a few times.  The decision to try to make the movie be true to Donner's vision is brought up.  Some scenes from the movie are shown, along with the casting.  Brandon Routh does talk briefly about playing Clark/Superman.  Since the documentary was finished before the movie was released, the reception of the movie isn't mentioned.  The last few minutes show more Superman images while a sort of recap of the character is given.  Some various clips play during the end credits.  There are even a few bloopers, including one with Marlon Brando.

The information in Look, Up in the Sky! - The Amazing Story of Superman is shared mostly in chronological order.  Once in a while one thing is mentioned, and the documentary jumps back a bit in time to discuss something else.  That does help to make it easier to keep track of what is being shared.  At times, the documentary jumps from subject to subject without much warning which could be slightly confusing to some people.  There is a lot of information shared over the course of the documentary, so it could be overwhelming to people who don't know as much about Superman.  I enjoyed hearing the information since much of it was new to me the first time I saw the documentary in 2006.  Since then, I have learned more about some of the subjects covered, like The Death of Superman storyline.  It would have been nice if a bit more had been shared about some things.

Bits from various interviews are used throughout Look, Up in the Sky! - The Amazing Story of Superman.  I think the interviews had been filmed specifically for the documentary, though I could be wrong about that.  Many people with some kind of connection to Superman were featured in the interviews.  They would talk about their experiences working on different projects and talking about some of the different people they worked with.  Some of the writers and artists from DC, along with one of the editors, talk about the comic books.  I've seen some of those people in extras on other superhero movie DVDs I have.  Mark Hamill and Gene Simmons, who have nothing whatsoever to do with Superman, are featured as well.  That does seem odd, though it was sort of interesting to hear how Simmons watched Adventures of Superman and played Superman by tying a towel around his neck as a child.  Stan Lee also turns up briefly, talking about how Superman influenced him to work in comics.

Footage from Margot Kidder's interview turns up a few different times.  She is the only cast member from the first two Superman movies involved, which is a little disappointing.  It would have been nice if more of the cast had been featured.  No older interviews with any of the cast are included either.  Christopher Reeve's mom is shown a few times, though she didn't get the chance to say that much.  Richard Donner is shown a few times talking about the movie without really addressing the problems that came up or the fact that he was replaced.  Annette O'Toole gets to talk about playing Lana in the third movie and Martha in Smallville.  She is the only cast member from that series included.  There really wasn't much about Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman shared, and Dean Cain is only briefly shown.  Again, he is the only cast member represented.  A few other actors involved in other Superman projects are also briefly included.  Even though Kevin Spacey served as the narrator, no interview footage of him talking about playing Lex is included.  I was disappointed that more of the various cast members weren't included.

The various clips and images shown throughout Look, Up in the Sky! - The Amazing Story of Superman all tie in very well to the information being shared at that time.  Most of the information was shared by Spacey as the narrator.  At times, the audio for the clip is able to be heard and other times Spacey talks over it.  Including those different clips and images shows how the characters have changed and evolved over the years, something I found interesting to see.  Pictures of some newspaper stories that were somehow tied to Superman are also shown every so often.  Once the documentary started talking about the cartoons, serials, and movies, not as many images from the comic books were shown.  Really the only villain from the comics that is mentioned is Lex Luthor, and there isn't much shared about him.  It would have been nice if a few more of the villains were discussed, though that would have made the documentary longer.

Look, Up in the Sky! - The Amazing Story of Superman has been released in a few versions on DVD.  Technically there are no extras for the documentary, though a special two disc version was available that also had Bryan Singer's video journals from the filming of Superman Returns.  The documentary - and the video journals - are included in the Superman Ultimate Collector's Edition.  Since I have that DVD set, that is how I got my copy of the documentary.

Look, Up in the Sky! - The Amazing Story of Superman is a very entertaining documentary about Superman.  It shares all sorts of interesting information and I learned several things from watching it even though there wasn't a lot of information on a few things.  Fans of Superman should give it a chance.

This review is part of elvisdo's 2009 Funny Pages Write Off.  It is also part of is 2009 Canadian Write Off since Joe Shuster is originally from Toronto and Margot Kidder is from the Northwest Territories.

Superman Reviews
Lois & Clark: The Complete First Season ~ Lois & Clark: The Complete Second Season ~ Lois & Clark: The Complete Third Season ~ Lois & Clark: The Complete Fourth Season ~ Superman: The Movie ~ Superman II ~ Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut ~ Superman III ~ Superman IV: The Quest for Peace ~ Superman Returns ~ Superman Doomsday ~ Superman and the Mole Men ~ Superman: The Ultimate Guide to the Man of Steel ~

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD