"Wish I Could Fly Like Superman..."

“Look Up In The Sky!
It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s
SUPERMAN!!!!”

OK, that is a corny beginning, but I just saw the new Superman Returns film.

I do not want to give anything away, so rate it in the comments section and I will add my insightful criticisms (aka “bitching”) about it. I can sum it up in a word. “eh…”

I mean it was not horrid, it just was not great.

I figured out why, to be honest.

Superman is a character best regulated to cartoons and animation. The Fleisher Supermans are great cartoons as are the Superman the Animated Series. The movies—nope.

They cannot make films faster than a speeding bullet.

They cannot make men more powerful than a locomotive in the films.

They cannot make men leap over buildings in a single bound in the films.

What they CAN (and oftentimes DO) make are love stories (yawn) and searching for ourselves stories (yawn, sniff, snore). Welcome to part of the film’s problem.

Me, I am among the handful of people who thought the late 1970’s first two Superman movies were a bit dull. I also despise Margot Kidder. She is a really obnoxious, psycho, bitchy Lois Lane. Lois is inquisitive and headstrong, but she uses guile and intelligence. She is among the most powerful female characters in the history of popular culture and should not be reduced to a bitchin’ nutjob (the parallels to Ann Coulter and Margo Kidder’s Lois Lane amazes even me).

Superman I and II are “all right” but not half as good as Batman or Batman Returns. Now Superman III an IV are downright awful (as are Batman III and IV) and both characters picked up speed with the new releases—Superman this year and Batman last year. I argue that the 1978 Superman looks dated today and Superman Returns already looks dated as well.

I liked using cast members from the television series (Lois and Jimmy Olsen) in the film. Very nice. The Adventures of Superman (the TV show from the 1950s) are filled with corny scenes with George Reeve kicking over cardboard walls and bending play-dough guns.

With the new film in mind, I would safely argue that the new Superman the Animated Series Season Three and Four DVD is a much better buy. There is a huge continuity problem with this movie (someone make a comment so I can blather on about this) and I really think the animated series can wrestle with Superman’s villains much better (Gilfred Godfrey as Myztykplk and Brainiac as examples).

Overall I give Superman Returns a C and as a new release, it will do well.

For real fun, read the Superman comics and the Archives series from DC.
Until then, up, up, up and away...