I recently downloaded Superman Doomsday in HD off the Xbox Live Video Marketplace (see my previous post). I wanted to offer up some thoughts after watching the video.

First off: I was a bit disappointed at the animation quality. I can’t really put my finger on exactly what. I’ve been hearing quite a bit about this Direct-to-DVD animation project (Produced and Directed by Bruce Timm - the dude behind Batman: The Animated Adventures) for a while now - especially from Comic-Con this summer. I just expected better animation.

Secondly - the script. Wow. What a mess. Horrible dialog. Lex Luthor actually says "Who’s your daddy" - come on! Oh and the dialog about the cat and the little old lady was hilarious. I never read the "Death of Superman" comics (yet) so I’m basing my opinion on what I see from this video. Also: its very "jumpy". Not a lot of actual storyline development or character development takes place to really make you get into the story. Carrying a PG-13 rating, there is a few spots of language not suitable for Saturday morning cartoons - but it seems very forced and unneeded. Oh and there’s more blood too which makes sense and is a nice touch to something that was meant to be a little darker than what we see normally with cartoons.

The cast all did very well (Adam Baldwin, Anne Heche…) with their roles with bad dialog aside.

After watching this I just felt like it lacked something making it what it was suppose to be. I know Bruce Timm and his team put a lot of work into this and it shows in some parts but it just didn’t meet the expectations I had.

Geek Score: C

Major Nelson lets us know of this week’s Xbox Live Video Marketplace releases. Included in this week’s releases is Season 5 of Family Guy. Family Guy was added to the Video Marketplace only a few weeks ago. The Xbox Live Video Marketplace allows users to turn their Xbox 360’s into entertainment hub for the living room. As more shows and movies are added, it keeps getting better and better.

Here is the full list of this week’s releases:

Movies
We Are Marshall HD
Superman: Doomsday HD
Disturbia HD
Troy: Director’s Cut HD
Decadent Evil 2 HD
Lucky You HD
Borderline Cult
Acts of Death

TV
Family Guy: Season 5
Ty Murray’s Celebrity Bull Riding Challenge
South Park: Matt & Trey’s Top 10
Upright Citizens Brigade Season 2
Josie and the Pussycats
Aqua Teen Hunger Force Season 2
Chappelle’s Show: Top 10 Best episodes of Chappelle’s Show
Moral Orel: Season 1
Avatar Season 3
Ghost in the Shell
Gossip Girl

Major Nelson writes to tell us that 300 has hit the Xbox Live Video Marketplace! You can download both SD and HD versions of the film. The HD version is a whopping 5.3GB download but I bet looks absolutely wonderful on a HDTV. 300 did break HD video records when it hit stores at the end of July.

I’ll be starting my download later this afternoon on my Xbox 360.