I'm a big fan of the Superman mythos ever since I was a little tot when I first saw the 1978 Superman movie at the drive-in theatre with my parents. I saw Superman Returns last week.
Things I liked:
- The space plan rescue scene: Fantastic
- Clark's flashback scenes of when he first learned how to fly: Inspiring.
- When the thickset thug sits down at the piano next to Lois' son to join in playing "Heart & Soul" while keeping an eye on Lois: Fun
Things I didn't like:
- The gigantic plot holes, the biggest of which is: Superman leaves Earth for five years and Clark also goes missing for five years, Clark returns to his job after five years and Superman starts making appearances again. No one close to Clark pieces this together (I'm told there was a scene left on the cutting floor where Ma Kent sends bogus postcards to the Daily Planet - they should have at least kept this scene in the film)
- The complete lack of chemistry between Brandon Routh (Superman/Clark Kent) and Kate Bosworth (Lois Lane). I understand that Lois had her heart broken and has tried to move on, but still there should be some spark. If you're going to make a Superman movie, you better get this right (like Teri Hatcher and Dean Cain did, like Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder did, like Tom Welling and Erica Durance are doing)
- Some of the corny dialogue and inside jokes just did not work: Jimmy, Lois and Perry are peering at a photo that Jimmy took of Superman streaking across the sky. Perry: "Is it a bird? Is it a plane?" and Jimmy blurts out "It's Superman!". Queue "wah-wah-wah-wah" music.
- Kevin Spacey didn't have enough fun in his role. Parker Posey's talent was wasted in this film
All in all, I still enjoyed the flick though. If they make a sequel, I hope they pay attention to what went wrong with this one (and of course they need to tie up the loose plot strands intentionally left dangling at the end of this one).
Hello
I saw your Betty Boop filmography, and wanted to let you know that you’re missing Accordian Joe.
See ya
Steve
Hey, didn’t you sport the costume as a tot? I seemed to remember someone a superman, constantly.
Well…I have been seen using baby wipes to clean the superman shirts that my boys wear…all to avoid a melt down when they are looking to get dressed!
Caroline: Great to hear from you. Jay and I were always playing a bunch of heroes: Superman, Spiderman, Batman, etc. Now I’ll have to convince Sam to make our kids some costumes in a year or two… 😉
Steve: Thanks for the update. Ray Pointer also mentioned this cartoon and three others missing on the forums. I’ve updated my internal database.
Accordian Joe is a Betty Boop cartoon, not a proto Betty. I have a drawing from it by Grim, and she’s dressed like an Indian. I always thought that the order was Dizzy Dishes, Barnacle Bill, Accordian Joe, Bum Bandit and Mysterious Mose, but I trust Ray on the dates. I spoke to Kausler about this last time he was by the archive, and he said that he thinks it’s a lost cartoon.
See ya
Steve
“The complete lack of chemistry between Brandon Routh (Superman/Clark Kent) and Kate Bosworth (Lois Lane). I understand that Lois had her heart broken and has tried to move on, but still there should be some spark.
–I definitely agree to this comment.
I think this recent Superman installment is overrated. I do prefer the older versions.