"Superman/Batman: Apocalypse" is somewhat of a direct sequel to last year's "Superman/Batman: Public Enemies". Both films are based on graphic novels written by Jeph Loeb (though the novel this book was based on is titled Superman/Batman: Supergirl).

When a meteor crashes on Earth carrying Superman’s teenage cousin Kara Zor El, Superman is thrilled to discover that there is another survivor of the planet Krypton. In contrast, Batman recognizes the threat someone else with Superman’s powers could potentially pose to the world. She is sent to the island of Themyscira to train with Wonder Woman and the Amazons. Meanwhile, Kara’s immense power attracts the attention of the evil Darkseid on the planet Apocalypse, who hopes to make the girl part of his army.

As with all the DC animated movies, Bruce Timm, one of the masterminds behind Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, Justice League, and Justice League Unlimited, serves as executive producer. Like Public Enemies, one of the great things about this movie is Kevin Conroy and Tim Daly, who’ve worked on Timm’s shows before, return to voice Batman and Superman. Conroy is considered a god by many a fanboy, so his presence is more than welcome. Much to my delight, Susan Eisenberg also returns to voice Wonder Woman.

Kara, a.k.a the future Supergirl, is voiced by Summer Glau (Firefly, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles). Glau does a good job for the most part, though at times she’s a little flat. But by God, that pales in comparison to how flat Andre Braugher is as Darkseid. Did they just need somebody with a deep voice? Because that’s really all he brought to the role. Hardly anything he said came off the least bit menacing. It might as well have been Michael Clarke Duncan that kidnapped Kara.

Interestingly enough, Granny Goodness, one of Darkseid’s lieutenants, is voiced by Edward Asner, whose stardom recently shot sky high when he voiced the old man character in Up. His portrayal of Granny was really funny. It sounded like he was having a lot of fun with the role.

To the film’s credit, it’s very faithful to the book. A few things were expanded on, but no major plot points were cut, or morphed into something else. You can probably credit that to the story requiring very little exposition. Casual viewers can get into it quickly without having to know any backstory. It wouldn’t hurt to see Public Enemies beforehand, but it’s by no means necessary.

It seems like Timm and his crew are starting to lean into their PG-13 more. In their last movie, Batman: Under The Red Hood, I was surprised at how violent some of the action sequences were. In this film, we don’t see a lot of gruesome violence (though we DO see someone stabbed through the chest), but it seems like there’s more swearing. It’s by no means an episode of The Sopranos, but while other DC movies might have had one or two curses, this movie had three or four. If you’re uptight about that kind of stuff, be ready for it.

Included on the blu-ray/2-disc DVD is a 10-minute short film starring Green Arrow, which is decent. It centers around GA trying to save the young princess of Latvia from assassins in an airport. The highlight for me was hearing Malcolm McDowell as the voice of Merlin, our hero’s nemesis. Personally, I think he would have made an even better Sinestro in the animated Green Lantern movie, but that’s just me. We also get a sneak peek at DC’s animated adaptation of All Star Superman.

Overall, the movie is pretty much what you’d expect a faithful adaptation of the graphic novel to be. It didn’t dazzle me, but it entertained me. As with all of the DC animated flicks, the graphic novel is superior. The unbelievable art of Michael Turner is hard to live up to, no matter what medium you’re in. But Apocalypse is a nice supplement, if for no other reason than we get to hear Kevin Conroy and Susan Eisenberg again.