Superman Returns *spoiler alert*

Goose bumps came up when the theme song started playing in the cinema hall. As the music swelled and the opening credits rolled, I felt a surge of nostalgia. I remembered the excitement of watching Superman as a kid, when the late Christopher Reeves was the Man of Steel (Margot Kidder was Lois Lane then).

Not quite replacing him in his shoes was newcomer Brandon Routh, who's quite a hottie. Thought someone really ought to fire his make-up artist though. His eyeliner looked a little too thick. And in some scenes, I swear he had a tad too much blush on. This was Superman the movie, not Superman the Drag Queen in Vegas.

So this cutie's got Clark Kent's clumsy mannerism ala Reeves, though not quite in the same enduring style. And there were more doe-eyed-staring-at-Lois scenes than I could take.

The ending rated high in the corny department when he repeated his father's speech (my strength will be your strength...) to his own son (yes, Superman had a son with Lois, making a cuckoo out of her fiance, Richard, played by James 'Cyclops' Marsden). When Superman got teary-eyed looking at the boy, I feared his eyeliner would run.

Speaking of the boy, he did a great job as a pale, asthmatic weakling. You wouldn't guess that he's a super-offspring until you see him throw a grand piano at some bad guy who was gonna hurt his mommy.

I like Kate Bosworth's Lois Lane. Although she does look more like a sweet high-school-sweetheart than a gutsy Pulitzer prize-winning journalist (quite a strange resemblance to Norah Jones too, I might add).

As for Kevin Spacey's Lex Luthor.
Hmmm. I love Kevin Spacey. He's a brilliant actor. But in this movie, he's not in his full element. Gene Hackman probably carried more bad-guy juice in his pinky finger than Spacey as a whole.

That said, the movie did have its merits.
But the show stealer, in my opinion, was the labrador at the Kent's country farm. He/she looked so much like Sunshine. Just older and bigger. Sigh.

I wonder if it'll give me a paw-tograph.