Death Of a Superhero 2011

Thomas Brodie-Sangster plays Donald a cancer kid who is obsessed with drawing comics and sex. The movie deals with his daily going ons, his relationships, and his battle with his terminal illness.


The thing that really separates this from the rest of it's kind is that we get glimpses inside his mind via some rather stellar animation. Of course being inside the mind of a dieing teenaged boy all the baddie have medical motifs and all the girls are buxom and scantily clad, which could turn some people off.


He starts to see a Cool shrink played by Andy 'Gollum' Serkis,and you know he's cool because he looks like he has'nt shaved in weeks, smokes, and has a French Press. The chemistry between these two is another highlight. Towards the end of the movie Donald's buddies are trying to get him laid for the first and last time (as any good friends would), and Doctor Coolshrink helps.

The dichotomy of the parents is interesting . The mom would do things like make him carrot juice and other health things, talk about his future, that kind of thing. Where as his Dad would let him drink, and even after a really bad turn of events the two of them and the older brother smoked weed together.

There is a love interest and she's not bad. I liked her well enough but she, as well as their relationship, felt a bit lacking, due to the fact that she really isn't in it that much of the film. Considering I was expecting her and the romance to hi-jack the plot, it was kind of a breath of fresh air that it didn't. I really enjoyed how they did the stero-typical end of movie kiss, but it was done in a very non-cinematic way.

'Death of a Superhero' is a not too stale sick kid drama that I wouldn't recommend watching with Grandma.

Rating 3.5/5