Well, I remember having watched some ceremony where the latest batman actor jabbed at Superman and proclaimed himself the "bad ass" superhero! Yes batman everybody envies a "bad ass", not! I have yet to see the batman movie (watched 20 minutes once and had to stop for some reason), but Superman Returns was good. I enjoyed and really felt like watching the movie upon reading a critic that said it was for insecure men. With such a dumb comment I thought this film is probably going to be good.
The film actually reminded me of the Marvel comic that I used to read. Superman is portrayed as an average guy on one side and flip the coin to find a real superhero. So there is part of him that you can associate with whoever you are. That's probably what lead to the dumb comment above, from an insecure critic that didn't like the feeling. The world (humanity) is portrayed as having affected Superman in a good way. He's the type of guy you'd like to have around in the real and chaotic world we live in. It seems to stray somewhat from the ongoing need for all actors to be shinny and beautiful like in Desperate Housewives where the odd ones out are not the top model type, talk about a desperate life...
I think that it is also one of the reasons why I also like Spiderman, not because I used to be a 'That 70s Show' fan. The fact that Spiderman’s beloved knows who he really is, brings some reality into it. A factor (reality) that is really preposterous sometimes in Superman with his mask/glasses. It's often played out with the audience thinking that the woman of his heart, Lois "should" realise who he is, because she's close to him. But come on, all the others around him also need their eyes checking for not figuring it out ! I wonder whether the feeble attempt at a mask is why people feel closer to him and that lead to Superman being such a success.
Have you noticed that they never seem to have anything more than a senator in Superman (ie Clark's dad in the TV series Smallville). There is no president and you sometimes see the army but not much.
Kevin Spacey is good but I thought he was better in other movies, it felt like he wasn't too sure which way to play it, whereas he normally goes the whole nine yards, bridging on the performance of his life. Both Lois and Clark are well played and fit nicely in the roles. Special Effects : good and a few great parts. However for a Superman movie I would have scripted in some more superman 'special power' sequences, but maybe that's because we're accustomed to too much of it elsewhere...
It's even down as a family movie at the washintonpost.com : "Wonderfully entertaining, occasionally profound, gorgeously designed new spin on Superman yarn is reverent, yet fresh, exploring loneliness of heroes, even echoing New Testament in non-sectarian ways"
[...] Checking through CNN I came across an article called “Beware the return of the Web Bubble”, which turned out to be about media companies potentially spending too much money for online social networking businesses. Linked to this article was another called “Star Power fades in Tinseltown”, the same journalist Paul R. La Monica discusses the failures of recent movies with big stars as opposed to the success of movies like ‘Superman returns‘ and ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’. Even though I watched and enjoyed both these movies I truly can’t think of the names of the lead actors. As the journalist explains, numerous stars, including Cruise and Gibson, are making the headlines for bad reasons, alienating “a large portion of moviegoers”. Indeed, why not go for great writers, special effects and search for new talent. Paying millions for a well known movie star is not proving to be so rewarding. For the past few years, monstrous box office hits have often been based on comic books, novels and sequels. And most of them have not had featured well-known actors and actresses. The characters and stories have driven the film’s success. [...]