Interesting doc about a Warner Bros production which has Tim Burton as director, Nic Cage as Superman, and a bevy of screenwriters, animators, costume designers, special effects geniuses, and conceptional artists which goes through numerous changes and developmental problems before the studio pulls the plug after a series of box office bombs during a disastrous stretch. You get to see Cage in costume tests, with doc director Schnepp interviewing Burton who is thankfully candid. Those brilliant artists involved and their work are given some well deserved notice as are the funny comments on interviewee producer Jon Peters regarding his eccentricities and how those working on the film were annoyed by him. Kevin Smith had an early script ultimately denied and Peters conflicts with him regarding what they were aiming for in developing the film. A Superman film was made but what you see of what might have been could have looked visually amazing. Peters and his spider, Smith and his profane reflections, artists reminiscing about the production, debate over how to make Superman a bit different than previous incarnations, updating the origin of Superman, how Burton and Cage were intrigued with putting a unique spin on the character, creatures involved with Superman and his home world, and other casting possibilities like Walken as a villain named Brainiac are memorable highlights.

A fantastic story told by an uneven documentary. The best parts (for me) were the Kevin Smith scenes. He seemed really happy to regale the audience (again) with his bizarre turn as scriptwriter for Superman Lives, and he's a nicely expressive personality. The downside to this is that he's not presenting anything new, and you can still get the same entertaining story in one of his "An Even With Kevin Smith" stand-ups.

Outside of that, the reason to see this movie is the wealth of uncovered costume-test footage with Nicolas Cage and Tim Burton. This paints a different tale than just the pictures we've had on the internet for so many years. Still would've made for a whacko movie. The director conducts a stilted interview with Burton himself (poor lighting and all),but give the man credit; have you ever heard a Burton commentary? They're not easy to get through.

The Death of Superman Lives is worth a watch, and it'll hold your attention, but you can get by with Smith's testimony of events in one of his on-stage conversations. And he makes for better subject matter.

It is always fascinating to see the innards of the making of a movie. People that are working so much before you even know that the idea exists. Superman Lives, though, was not that special an idea.

It would have been fun to see a long hared Nicolas Cage play Superman (and I honestly mean it, especially since he was still young and caring enough about his roles) and Tim Burton would have probably reinvented the superhero genre all by his lonesome. However it would have been neither completely revolutionary nor conservatory enough to appeal to movie studios. Its cancellation was not possible, but the most probable outcome.

The documentary goes ahead and describes how the work for the movie started and how they prepared concepts and costumes and they were weeks from starting filming when the project was canceled. Fun to see Kevin Smith contradict Jon Peters on how things actually happened and who had which idea, but in the end the viewer doesn't care one way or the other.

I feel that the documentary, unlike others in the genre, like Jodorowsky's Dune, failed completely in making the viewer care. You didn't see Cage heartbroken for not making the film (in fact he didn't appear at all, except in archive footage),you didn't see Smith or Peters cry tears of frustration for not getting the thing done, and the footage about their preparations and the minute details about the Superman costume left me cold.

Bottom line: Good to watch it in order to learn how movies get conceived and made. Bad if you want to enjoy yourself or feel anything about this movie that was not made.