Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

I got Superman the last son of krypton because I found it cheap at wal-mart. Since my town movie theater has been showing the movie closed to complete remodel for the last several years I won’t be able to get to see Superman returns in till it hits DVD. Superman the last son of Krypton is the 3 pilot episodes to Superman the animated series that was made in the 90’s. A lot of people say this is the best version of Superman and I would be incline to agree. Also as a video game trivia note Super Man the animated series also made the worst license game since ET for the Atari 2600.

The movie.
Well the movie is kind of episodic and it only runs an hour long, but it’s important to note that its’ really a 3 episode long arc in a TV series.

In the first part of the movie depicts Jor-el a scientist on the planet Krypton. Seems that Krypton is having a lot of earth quake recently and he’s thinks the planet is about to explode. He takes is information to the high console only to have the planets super computer Brainiac betray him and tell the console it’s just a slight polar shift. He investigates why Brainac lied to the console and it seems Brianiac is more concerned about saving himself then the people of Krypton. With Brainaic issuing a warrant for his arrest Jor-el barley manages to escape Brainiac central control and return home. With only a couple of minutes left he puts his infant son Kal-el into a space ship that he build and sends it towards Earth. On earth a husband and wife from Kansas find Kal-El’s space ship and decide to call him Clark Kent.

The 2nd part features a teenaged Clark going to high school and noticing that something weird is going on. He can see through walls, melt things by looking at them, and run super fast. The weirdest thing that freaks him out is when he saves a family whose RV crashes into a gasoline tanker. The gasoline tanker explodes during the rescue but both he and the little girl he was holding come out without even a burn. The Kents decide to show Clark the space ship and in it is a message from Jor-el and his wife Lara explaining to him what is going on.

Finally the 3rd part has an adult Clark and Superman has he battles terrorist who have stolen Lex Luthors new battle suit. A suit powerful enough to destroy an entire army.

Ok first the good parts of it, the best parts come in the beginning 20 minutes that show life on Krypton. Unlike the live action movies that show Krypton has being a rather cold and dead place the makers of Superman the animated series show it as a kind of an alien version of earth. We see there clothes and we see cities that seem to look like a futuristic version of earth. It seems like even though most of the animals on Krypton are alien, dogs still exist there. We also meet a later to be super villain in the series Brainiac, it seems that he’s a super computer and he has the Krytons supreme console wrapped around his fingers. This of course turns out disastrous for the people of Krypton.

Clarks Teenaged years are ok there not great but it’s a story that has to be told before he becomes Superman. The movie does stumble a bit when you get to Supermans part but then that is not really a fault of bad story telling, more like there going to give you more good stuff the next week.

And this is where the bad parts come in. When we reach Superman over half the movie is over and there are very little time for character growth or development. We see Clark get a job at the daily planet and we meet the plucky Lois Lane. And then we Superman kick a giant robot around for the rest of the picture. That’s not to say we don’t get any sit down time with the characters at all there is a very good scene at the end between Superman and Lex Luthor that’s sets up the relationship between the two characters for the rest of the series. And finally on the last bad note the movie ends with a cliff hanger of some aliens picking up a strange Kryptonian satellite.

DVD.
I payed 5 bucks and didn’t expect a lot of features and by expectorations’ where met. The special features on the DVD are all aimed at the kids. We have an escape from Krypton DVD game, a Superman family and foes trivia section. Finally the only really good feature is the how to draw Superman where one of the character designers of the shows sit down and talk about how they made Supermans look for the new series.

Final Recommendation.
Last Son of Krypton is a good pilot of a great series. And like any great pilot it will leave you wanting for more, and after watching it I can’t just help but be tempted by the animated series boxed set. But that is also its greatest weakness as a stand alone movie is the characters aren't very well developed and only one episode really deals with Superman.


Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up to Age 4