But the Superm an Returns is still a sleek marvel of fun. It brought everything the audience would expect from a major summer flick based on a comic book about an alien superhero.

    Tremendous visual appeal, respectable acting performances, and the cliched reminder that a kiss can solve even the biggest problems all returned with the movie.

    The new Hollywood feature, Superman Returns, is directed by Bryan Singer, who made The Usual Suspects and X-Men. Newcomer Brandon Routh plays the superhero.

    With technology having vastly improved since the original Superman from 1978, director Bryan Singer has constructed a visual marvel. The enormous set pieces are jaw-droppingly elaborate, especially a visceral near-plane crash toward the film's start that will leave you on the verge of simultaneous laughter and tears.

    And yet, there's something softer, sweeter, warmer about this Superman than its predecessors, both in its tone and its performances.

    With his jet-black hair, blue eyes, chiselled facial features and muscular bod, Routh bears a great resemblance to the late Christopher Reeve -- and is just as lovably klutzy in bespectacled Clark Kent mode -- but he portrays the DC Comics superhero with more introspection and vulnerability, and not as much slam-bang charisma.  Enditem

    (Agencies)