PLOT: When America falls into a series of unfortunate events, it finds salvation in the most unlikely man of all, Lex Luthor. Now President of the United States, Luthor appears to have reformed and the USA has benefited from his administration turning the country's problems around. Only Superman, Luthor's life long arch enemy, doubts the sincerity of the 'new and improved' Lex. When Luthor calls on Superman to discuss collaborating on stopping an approaching asteroid that is basically one big ball of Kryptonite, it turns out to be a trap to frame Superman for a crime he didn't commit and pass it off as the Kryptonite asteroid affecting his psychology and then putting a reward on Superman's head - wanted dead or alive. Determined not to give up, Superman joins forces with Batman to thwart Luthor and save the Earth, a task made all the more difficult thanks to the heroes Luthor has dispatched to get in the way of the two men long hailed as The World's Finest.
The biggest criticism one can attribute to this animated feature, which is based on the Loeb/McGuinesss miniseries of the same name (the first in a stretch of stories they collaborated on) is that it removes what actually made their original graphic novel so special: the internal monologues in which Superman and Batman compare, contrast, and critique one another. That is where much of the heart and soul of the original book stemmed from. Superman and Batman are without argument the two most famous heroes of the DC Universe, and their alliance is among the best known 'odd couple' pairings in comics. Theirs is a very difficult dynamic to do properly, two sides of the same coin, the light and dark sides of justice, and has been mishandled more than once over the years as Batman's popularity grew while Superman's popularity sporadically waned, resulting in more than a few unpleasant instances of Superman being forced to step aside so that Batman can look cool, regardless of whether or not it made sense from a storytelling stand point. The Public Enemies monologues, by far, is among the very best examinations of these two iconic heroes and the unlikely friendship between them. As the "history of" documentary that examines their history together itself explains, the key to writing good Superman/Batman stories lies in rooting out why these two very different heroes need each other, and not fixating on the things that would drive them apart. While the basic bulk of the plot is the same, the loss of the internal monologues was truly unfortunate.
As for the feature itself, despite the loss of those monologues among a few other bits and scenes, it is still an entertaining diversion which can be best described as "Lethal Weapon With Capes". With animation that looks like it was ripped straight from the book, Superman and Batman go on their adventure, they kick ass, they take names, and exchange witty banter with one another in between action scenes. Kevin Conroy, Tim Daly and Clancy Brown reprise their roles from the DCAU, along with CCH Pounder returning as Amanda Waller (from JLU), and they all deliver strong performances, as usual, as do the other actors. After the embarrassment that was "Brainiac Attacks" it is especially nice to hear Daly reprise the Superman role with stronger material (no disrespect intended towards George Newbern, who replaced Daly for Justice League/JLU, as Newbern himself turned out to be a solid Superman once he found his footing). "Public Enemies" also features some of the best animated fight scenes for Superman ever drawn, from battling Metallo, to fighting off an army of bad guys, to dealing blows with fellow heroes such as Captains Atom and Marvel, to the final clash with the Kryptonite suit powered Lex Luthor. Batman himself doesn't slouch on the battle field either.
Overall rating: 7 out of 10
The biggest criticism one can attribute to this animated feature, which is based on the Loeb/McGuinesss miniseries of the same name (the first in a stretch of stories they collaborated on) is that it removes what actually made their original graphic novel so special: the internal monologues in which Superman and Batman compare, contrast, and critique one another. That is where much of the heart and soul of the original book stemmed from. Superman and Batman are without argument the two most famous heroes of the DC Universe, and their alliance is among the best known 'odd couple' pairings in comics. Theirs is a very difficult dynamic to do properly, two sides of the same coin, the light and dark sides of justice, and has been mishandled more than once over the years as Batman's popularity grew while Superman's popularity sporadically waned, resulting in more than a few unpleasant instances of Superman being forced to step aside so that Batman can look cool, regardless of whether or not it made sense from a storytelling stand point. The Public Enemies monologues, by far, is among the very best examinations of these two iconic heroes and the unlikely friendship between them. As the "history of" documentary that examines their history together itself explains, the key to writing good Superman/Batman stories lies in rooting out why these two very different heroes need each other, and not fixating on the things that would drive them apart. While the basic bulk of the plot is the same, the loss of the internal monologues was truly unfortunate.
As for the feature itself, despite the loss of those monologues among a few other bits and scenes, it is still an entertaining diversion which can be best described as "Lethal Weapon With Capes". With animation that looks like it was ripped straight from the book, Superman and Batman go on their adventure, they kick ass, they take names, and exchange witty banter with one another in between action scenes. Kevin Conroy, Tim Daly and Clancy Brown reprise their roles from the DCAU, along with CCH Pounder returning as Amanda Waller (from JLU), and they all deliver strong performances, as usual, as do the other actors. After the embarrassment that was "Brainiac Attacks" it is especially nice to hear Daly reprise the Superman role with stronger material (no disrespect intended towards George Newbern, who replaced Daly for Justice League/JLU, as Newbern himself turned out to be a solid Superman once he found his footing). "Public Enemies" also features some of the best animated fight scenes for Superman ever drawn, from battling Metallo, to fighting off an army of bad guys, to dealing blows with fellow heroes such as Captains Atom and Marvel, to the final clash with the Kryptonite suit powered Lex Luthor. Batman himself doesn't slouch on the battle field either.
Overall rating: 7 out of 10