Directed by Brandon Vietti and written by J. Michael Straczynski, the Watchmen animated movie gets a longer running time than the 2009 movie, which is the first good thing about it. Artist Dave Gibbons served as a consulting producer on the film, while Alan Moore, the writer, goes uncredited due to his displeasure with anyone adapting his work.

Following the script of the comic closely — almost word for word in some moments and as I’ve read the graphic novel so many times, I was definitely saying the lines as the characters did — this has Matthew Rhys as Nite Owl II, Katee Sackhoff as the second Silk Spectre (Adrienne Barbeau is her mother!), Titus Welliver as Rorschach, Troy Baker as Ozymandias, Rick D. Wasserman as The Comedian, Michael Cerveris as Dr. Manhattan and Geoff Pierson as the first Nite Owl.

The first chapter extends the entire way from the murder of The Comedian to Rorschach bring caught by the police inside Jacobi’s (Jeffrey Combs) apartment. It really feels like the original artwork coming to life, even more than the digital comic that was released in 2008. And it doesn’t shy away from the violence or anatomy of the comic; in fact it goes further, as the scene where Dr. Manhattan fights organized crime isn’t just a still image of him exploding a man’s head. We see it vividly explode and people scream when confronted by him.

This does a really great job of conveying the multiple timelines that Dr. Manhattan can see all at once, which would be hard to do in a motion picture, as it would feel as if it would grind the narrative to a halt. Instead here, I feel as if it works just as well as it did the original comic book.

Watchmen is a near-unadaptable story, although there have been three attempts now. This feels the closest, even if it’s basically like having someone read it to you. I’m looking forward to watching the second part to see how they wrap things up.