It's a bird, it's a plane, it's...

Superman Returns: B+

I have to admit that I really, really enjoyed this latest installment for Superman, but I also freely admit that my opinion may be slightly biased because I do believe that I may have found my next husband in Brandon Routh. A girl can dream, right?

In this particular film, Superman has just returned to Earth from a five-year trip to explore whether there might actually be remains of Krypton. Much has happened in his absence with the most important aspect being that Lois Lane (played by Kate Bosworth pictured above) has moved on with two other men -- her child and fiance, Richard (played by James Marsden who is probably the hottest guy ever that always comes in #2). Meanwhile, Lex Luthor (played by Kevin Spacey) is up to no good, and trying to find some new way to rule the world. Mwah-ha-ha-ha!

I re-watched the original Superman with Christopher Reeve the morning that I saw this one, so it's easy for me to make the comparisons between the two. The first is the obvious that Routh looks like Reeves' ghost or long-lost son, especially with the shellacked "super hair." Even Routh admitted on Regis & Kelly that he realized that he had that in his favor (and dressed up as Superman the Halloween before he auditioned for the role). A nugget of trivia is that Routh met with director Bryan Singer for the part at a coffee shop, and spilled a cup of coffee all over himself. Thinking that cost him the part, Singer actually felt reassured that Routh could also play the klutzy Clark Kent side of the role (though admittedly, Reeve was better at transforming into Kent, including changing his voice).

I honestly can't decide if I liked Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane because I couldn't help but compare her to Smallville's much sassier version (I was never a fan of Margot Kidder). I also can't figure out why actresses that either wear a wig or have their hair dyed brown for a role seem to have the ugliest shade of brown I've ever seen, as if it somehow gives them more credibility to be taken seriously as a career-minded woman?

If you read any of the trade mags about the film, director Bryan Singer is a huge fan of Superman, and incorporated many references from the original film, including exact lines of dialogue. Some may have thought this to be unoriginal, but I saw it as more of a geeky fan boy paying an homage to the "master" and didn't mind it. John Williams' score is also used in this film, which (and I'm not exaggerating) literally caused the people in my audience to clap and cheer whenever it came on.

No surprise here, but the effects in this film are absolutely superb (especially if you're a fan of Singer's first two X-Men films). Many short snippets of these scenes are in the previews, so they're not spoiler-ish, but the shot where you see a bullet hit Superman's eyeball literally makes you stop breathing for a second and want to worship the CGI-gods.

The downside to the film is that the plot is actually fairly weak, and I found myself almost bored whenever Superman/Clark Kent wasn't onscreen (even with Kevin Spacey as Luthor). I might admit that it's because of my new-found crush for Brandon Routh, except that many others have felt the same way. I didn't even care about the entire Lex Luthor sub-plot, but just wanted Superman to go around saving people because that's what we're there for, right? There are also many holes throughout the story and you can't help but continue to ask yourself questions like "how did Lex know where the Fortress of Solitude was?"

I realize that most superhero movies have plots that are somewhat diabolical, unrealistic and far-fetching, but filmmakers still have to stay true to consistency even when within their made-up world. You can't have Lois bounced around a plane like a rag doll and not sustain injuries. You can't have her jump feet first into a body of water (with an evening gown on, no less) and then suddenly be face down as though she'd dived in. You can't have Lex Luthor sail to shore of an Artic land mass in a luxury yacht when anyone that reads Clive Cussler knows that you need an ice breaker.

I also admit that I'm not a comic book reader, so my exposure to the main superhero stories is limited to these theatrical releases (and by that, I mean "the man trilogy" of Superman, Spiderman and Batman). I found myself more excited about this Superman film than the other incarnates (as much as I liked them), and I was trying to figure out why. In Batman, Bruce Wayne's powers/abilities come from his suit and toys; Spiderman acquires his through the spider bite, whereas Superman's are innate. He IS Superman. He doesn't wear a mask when he's the superhero (unlike the other two), but wears his disguise for the alter-ego private life of Clark Kent. With Spiderman and Batman, I often found myself more intrigued by the toys and/or villians than I was about the main character, and I felt just the opposite with Superman. Peter Parker comes across as whiney to me and I just want him to put his suit on and shut up, and Bruce Wayne can often seem quite arrogant, but you can't help but like the dorky, sincere and good-hearted Clark Kent (and why a pair of horned rimmed glasses keeps people from making the connection, I'll never know).

At this point, this is my favorite movie of this summer season so far (which could change with Pirates of the Caribbean 2 this weekend). Despite the flaws I mentioned above, this one is still worth seeing in the theatres.