Okay, I can finally read (and heavily edit
) this thread!
I have to say that I'm a huge Superman fan, he's always been my favorite superhero. Loved the original Reeve movie as a child and it contributed to my life's direction. However looking back at the Reeve movies now, the only good thing in them is Reeve himself. The stories, other actors, dialogue, even the design of Krypton are all poor IMHO. I thought Superman Returns was far, far superior to Superman the Movie and Superman 2 (and I'll be like Singer and pretend the other 2 atrocities don't exist). However I didn't like SR as much as I expected to because it was too much of an homage to the Donner film.
They didn't have any of the ultra-stupid stuff like turning back the world, but the repeat dialogue, the non-existant, bumbling Clark and the wig wearing Luthor were all a bit painful. I HATE that Lois barely acknowledges Clark is there. How can she be in love with someone and how can Clark be in love with her when she's so dismissive of who he really is?
I did like the casting and the acting. Routh looks too much like Reeve and it could have been disasterous if he wasn't as good an actor as he is. Still I was cringing at the very end when they duplicated the final scene of StM and I breathed a sigh of relief when Routh didn't give us that winning grin that was so endearing with Reeve. The slight, knowing smile was perfect - but I would have preferred them not to have copied the scene at all.
From the beginning I liked the casting of Spacey. A much more menacing Luthor than Hackman. And no Otis'. I even liked Posey who I usually hate. Bosworth - well, she's attractive. At least it's believeable that Clark would fall for her much more so than Kidder's Lois. I'd agree that she's not that believeable as a mother, she's about 23 though, so that can be forgiven.
I liked the special effects too. There was only one CG shot that looked really bad - when Supes is falling to earth and the camera is above him, Supes looks like a cartoon.
I didn't mind the kid subplot either and thought the kid did an excellent job. He didn't have much dialogue, but his expressions seemed right on to me. My favorite comic stories when I was little were the imaginary "what if Batman and Superman had kids?" stories, so I hope they do explore that some in the next 2 films.
However, ultimately I wanted a Superman for the 21st century. I wanted something to be added to the mythos besides just a child. What Singer has given us is a Superman of the 1970s, but with better special effects.
And perhaps I'm too much a fan of Smallville for me to fall in love with SR. What they've done with the characters and mythology on that show is far, far more interesting than Singer's homage to Donner and Reeve. I really, really would like to see the next Superman movie start with Welling's Clark and Durance's Lois walking out of a movie theater having just seen the Singer film and exclaiming "wow, did they get that wrong!" And then the rest of the film is based on the "Smallville" mythology.
And I didn't have a problem with the Christ metaphor. It was there in the Reeve film and it's unavoidable with an all-powerful being who saves people. And it's not that Superman should save EVERYONE, but he brings hope to the world and sets an example that we should strive for.
Now it appears from the above that I didn't like the film, but I did like it very much, probably a 4/5. But I probably would have liked Abrams Kung-fu fighting Kryptonians a lot more.
I'd blame it on the time of day. LOL
