He raises Marlon Brando from the dead, casts the actors who played Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane on the 1950s TV series in cameo roles, dedicates the film to Christopher and Dana Reeve , and even dusts off John Williams' s title theme from 1978's ``Superman."
The upshot of all this veneration is a generally thrilling entertainment that's not quite the grand slam you want it to be. ``Superman Returns" travels from Metropolis to the North Pole, from outer space to the ocean's depths, but in the end it feels just a little Smallville . You don't mind terribly, but you're conscious of the missed chance.
How's the new kid, by the way? Good enough so that you don't really notice there is a new kid. The role of Superman has to be played by a newcomer -- a known star would bring baggage along -- and like Reeve in 1978, Brandon Routh is tall, dark, handsome, and so sincere as to be faintly comical. The character embodies unadorned decency, and that makes others assume he's a square, especially when he has the Clark Kent glasses on. An actor has to be focused enough and bland enough to make that work, and Routh has both qualifications. He's like Reeve's slightly soulful younger brother; somewhere in the Fortress of Solitude, there's an iPod with James Blunt songs on it.
``Returns" picks up about five years after 1980's ``Superman II" left off. Our hero has been away on extended leave, looking for the remains of his home planet in the depths of space, and the world has finally moved on. Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth with dyed brown tresses and not enough edge) has penned an editorial titled ``Why the World Doesn't Need Superman" and is getting ready to receive a Pulitzer for it.
