In the past five years, Hollywood moviemakers have finally figured out a successful "formula" for Superhero movies - humanize the experience by making the heroes more vulnerable while experiencing more "human emotions". Make the heroes more "human" so that we can relate more to what they are going through. Spiderman was mega-successful with this formula, as was X-Men and Batman Begins. Now we have Superman Returns, closely following the same formula.

In Superman Returns, the Man of Steel (Brandon Routh) has been away from Metropolis for five years. The reason why is never explained to our satisfaction. (Did it take five years for him to fly to his home world only to discover it wasn't there? How boring). Yet when Superman makes his appearance back in Metropolis (after the article "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman") wins a Pulitzer prize, he does so in grand and dramatic style that almost makes you stand up and cheer. Truly the world does need Superman as this is not only a man for the people, but someone who has built up such a connection with society that most people would be willing to sacrifice their life to save his if the tables were turned.

The Man of Steel has been gone for a long time and Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) has moved on. She's engaged to be married and has a son. The "love triangle" storyline is quite interesting and different from what the audience may expect. When a person is gone for five years, life changes. You can never simply up from where you left off (especially when you failed to say "goodbye". Fans wanting Lois and Superman to rekindle that same love from the first movie may be turned off with the story, but I found it to be refreshing and more "real" than many other aspects of the movie.

The cinematography, score, and direction are all well done. In a film dedicated to the memory of Christopher and Dana Reeve, the filmmakers try hard to honor the franchise and for the most part they succeed.

While Superman Returns makes a triumphant comeback for the franchise, the movie isn't perfect. It lacks a "reality base" that the Spiderman and Batman Begins movies successfully pulled off. For example, are we really to believe that Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) is going to try and sell land he creates from Fortress of Solitude crystals when that land is full of nothing but sharp pointed edges and a hard crust surface? And are we to believe that when this huge landmass suddenly appears in the ocean (even causing the ocean floor to split apart for miles), that there isn't a tidal wave or tsunami as a result? Perhaps the filmmakers need to watch more of the Discovery channel where they would learn that even a mountain landslide into the ocean (or a lake) can create massive tidal waves. And here we have something 8,000 times more powerful and yet the water remains calm.

Also, in one scene Superman is exposed to kryptonite and immediately falls victim to it. Yet in another, he's exposed to even more kryptonite (including a piece embedded in him) and it takes him forever to fall victim to it even though the dose is much higher. In several scenes, Lois Lane is thrown around like a rag doll, her head hitting blunt objects at an amazing speed and her body being thrown around an airplane with such force that most people would die. Yet, amazingly she never sports a single scar, bruise, or broken bone. You would think that she had inherited Superman's defensive and healing powers. Hmmmmm.

Filmmakers need to stop treating audiences with kiddie gloves and become more intelligent. Audiences will question everything. Make it real. This is what made Batman Begins such a great film. Everything was intelligently explained and presented. People love movies like The Sixth Sense because such movies challenge the audience's intellect. Superman Returns, while entertaining, does little to challenge your intelligence.

As far as acting goes, no one really stands out as exceptional except for Sam Huntington who does an excellent job as cameraman Jimmy Olsen. Also interesting to watch is a short clip of a teenage Superman that has a very convincing Superman look.

Even with these downfalls, Superman Returns is still a fun movie to watch with enough humanization to make you care even if you don't buy into the whole strange "real estate" storyline. The internal conflict this Man of Steel faces is much stronger than and real that with any past Superman. The execution, pacing, and humanization of Superman Returns make the story interesting enough to view more than once and, as such, I give Superman Returns an 8.5 out of 10 score. It's a worthy Superman film that will hopefully be better in future installments.