Bryan and I went to see the latest Superman movie Friday night. I know some women don’t like these kinds of movies, but I’m not one of them. I’m told my first word was Batman, and the Spiderman movies are some of my favorites. The second is especially good, with biblical themes of self-sacrifice and esteeming others more highly than yourself. With that said, I was especially disappointed with Superman Returns. I haven’t read any reviews, so I don’t know what kind of discussion is going on about the movie. These are simply my opinions. Don’t read this if you don’t want me to spoil part of the plot for you.

Superman Returns plays like a sequel. Superman disappeared five years earlier when scientists discovered remains of his home planet, and he went to see if anything/anyone remained. We have Lois Lane as a single parent living with her boyfriend (a long-term engagement). She is bitter because Superman disappeared without a trace or a goodbye. The shocker is that we (and he) discover that her son is actually Superman’s, not the boyfriend’s. Doesn’t this violate some sort of superhero code of conduct? Doesn’t this strip him of the moral authority to be called a superhero? Hey, I know this is fictional, but if you’re going to make a movie about a superhero, you should make him act like one. What kind of example is this for kids?

The characters aren’t very well-developed, either. Lois Lane is the worst. One of my criteria for a good movie is that I have to actually care about what happens to the characters. If you don’t care about the characters, it’s hard to care about the movie, and unfortunately that was the case for me. The most interesting characters turned out to be Lex Luthor’s girlfriend and Lois Lane‘s boyfriend. Huh? I think I’ll stick with Smallville, which I really like. I’ve watched the first four seasons on DVD, but haven’t seen season five, which is the most current. In the first four seasons, the Smallville Kents are one of the best family models I’ve seen on TV or movies.

Just my 2 cents’ worth!