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"      1978&amp;#039;s Superman: The Movie is widely considered a cinema classic. Whatever the reception of its sequels, the Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder-starring film remains the benchmark against which all later adaptations have been measured. 35 years down the line, with the imminent arrival of Zack Snyder&amp;#039;s Superman reboot Man of Steel, it seems a good time to look back at what it is up against. The strength of iconography established in the film is a big part of what makes it such a classic. Just as Reeve became Superman for all successive generations, the stirring John Williams soundtrack became his instantly recognisable theme. When it comes to imagining the superhero, it is the events and imagery in this film that spring instantly to mind. &amp;quot;This is no fantasy - no careless product of wild imagination,&amp;quot; says Jor-El in his opening lines, and he was right. This film made Superman real for the generations of moviegoers that came after.  All of Christopher Reeve&amp;#039;s successors - from Brandon Routh of the dull Superman Returns to Smallville&amp;#039;s TV teen Superman Tom Welling and future Man of Steel star Henry Cavill - have clearly been cast with his chiselled face in mind. That is not to (universally) denigrate their performances, but each one bares a strong resemblance to the late actor, and they will continue to do so until Superman: The Movie has been utterly forgotten. That is to say: as long as the franchise continues. The opening to Richard Donner&amp;#039;s film is admittedly strange, and certainly not what the 21st century cinemagoer would expect to encounter today. The first scene begins with a child reading a comic book - the acknowledgement of comics as a medium historically designed for young readers that the new world of the gritty modern superhero film would likely prefer to forget. The first 20 minutes of the film are set on Krypton in its final days, followed by the early days of Clark Kent on Earth. Reeve does not show his face on camera until 45 minutes into the film.  The design of Krypton is simple and clean enough to have stood the test of time relatively unscathed, the illusion of reality only infrequently broken. Marlon Brando - who could himself have been cast happily as Superman in an earlier time - as Jor-El appears as an older, silver haired version of the Man of Tomorrow&amp;#039;s father. The opening trial of Zod and his compatriots has little meaning in the context of the film, but the final dialogue between Lara and Jor-El succinctly encapsulates Superman&amp;#039;s relationship with his adopted planet - one of boundless love and extreme isolation. The sequence showing Superman&amp;#039;s early years on Earth is also a mixed bag. It includes some unforgettable moments - the baby Kal-El lifting the Kent&amp;#039;s truck, for one - and some beautiful vistas across the Midwest landscape, but Jeff East looks awkward as teenage Clark Kent in his fake nose and hilarious wig, and the conversation with his parents is often equally stilted.      You might be beginning to wonder what all the fuss was about. Fortunately, with the arrival of the fully-grown Reeve as Kent at the Daily Planet offices, the movie begins to reveal its value, and that value is captured for the most part in its two leads. Reeve plays both Superman and the stooping wallflower Clark Kent with equal relish, making his flimsy disguise as the &amp;#039;mild-mannered reporter&amp;#039; almost believable with his rounded shoulders, stutter and clumsiness. As the Man of Steel he is charming and softly spoken, with good humour and a smile for victims and villains alike. When, as Kent, he comes close to breaking the Fourth Wall with a smile after a failed robbery, it takes a hard heart not to fall a little bit in love.  Kidder is equally strong. Despite playing what is primarily the damsel in distress - with a few bouts of first class shrieking - she brings fire, prickliness and humour to the role, making her far more than a gormless victim. Considering the sometimes painfully schlocky dialogue in the early scenes, the handling of Lois and Clark is subtle and sparkling. In their first scene together, it is as much body language and what goes unsaid that instantly crystallises their working relationship as it is their words. When it comes to the interview scene on Lois&amp;#039;s unfeasibly huge penthouse balcony - in many ways the climax of the film, early as it comes - the roles are reversed in a touching and funny sequence. Knowing the unfortunate twists the future had in store for Reeve and Kidder brings an added element of pathos to the sequence. Beyond the drawn out opening, much of the fault lies in its villains. Gene Hackman&amp;#039;s Lex Luthor and his bumbling minions are never more than an unwelcome diversion with their bemusing plots and leaps in logic. Occasionally Luthor evinces an air of menace that would have served the movie much better if it had been played up instead of aiming for laughs.  The effects continue to stand up well, and though they do slip from time to time it happens no more frequently than in many modern CG-filled blockbusters. It is not hard to sit back, relax, and really believe that a man can fly. The multiple rescue scenes in the latter act of the film are charming - if somewhat jumbled - and Superman&amp;#039;s much-derided time-reset-by-backwards-flying moment feels almost justified by Lois Lane&amp;#039;s genuinely harrowing living burial minutes earlier. Superman&amp;#039;s flaws are hard to miss, but it is through the charm of its leads and the power of Donner&amp;#039;s vision that it has remained a touchstone for over three decades. Man of Steel is going to have to be something unique and memorable to extricate itself from its predecessors shadow.      "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/superman/feature/a487037/re-viewed-christopher-reeve-takes-flight-in-superman-the-movie/>