Haven’t seen the new cut, what makes it better?
Nothing. It sucked.
The Donner cut just seemed to have the same “feel” as the first one. Makes a bit of sense there as he directed it :-)! I wish I could describe it better than that. I just felt it paired up with the first one a heck of a lot better.
The “theatrical” second Superman just felt cheesy to me (not like the first & Donner’s II aren’t). I loved Superman II as a kid, but as I got older I just didn’t enjoy it as much as the first. Sorry for the lame explanation.
To this day Superman has one of the best musical scores ever. I will NEVER forget seeing Superman I in the theater with my dad and those opening credits :-)! I think I was 5 when it came out, but I can remember it to this day :-).
I still think “Superman Returns” gets unfairly bashed. Yeah, Kate Bosworth was horrible as Lois Lane & I still cannot forgive the director for editing out “American Way” when he says “I want to know if he’s still for truth, justice, all of that stuff”. But overall, people seem to trash that film up and down when it is really not all too bad. It’s definitely worth the $7 or so on BluRay (used ... I never buy them new).
As far as the time travel stuff in the first one ... I have no idea if that was part of the original story ... I can’t say that stuff really bothers me either ... it’s a comic book film, not real life like Star Trek :-P (though time travel worked awesome in the new one!!!)