My recollection is that Tales of the Black Freighter ends strong, but takes way too long to pick up the pace. The Watchmen story itself, however, is pretty amazing from start to finish. I seem to recall that Alan Moore had intended their presentation to compliment one another in the original monthly comics, but this effect will be further lost by splitting them into separate adaptations.

On its own, Watchmen looks like it’s shaping up to be a pretty epic superhero movie. Warner Bros. seems committed to delivering a faithful adaptation of the graphic novel, and I’ll be first in line for a matinee showing the Monday after it opens — once the crowds have died down.

However, Tales of the Black Freighter is a dark pirate story, and as a standalone animated movie, I can’t help but imagine it unfolding like something you’d see spoofed on The Simspons Halloween episode.

I suspect that someone at Warner Bros. has been drinking a little too much fanboy Kool-Aid — either that, or this separate DVD release was the only way they could justify the expense of producing the additional animated content.