I just purchased the bluray of this and watched it the other day.My feelings on it are mixed.Some pros:
1)Any scene with Marlon Brando owned.Thematically,it tied into Superman:The movie much better than having Superman interact with his mother in the Lester version.I understand the politics surrounding Brando not being in II,but looking at this Donner cut,there should be no debate that Brando's scenes are far more powerful and appropriate in line with the Jor-el-Ka-lel relationship established in the first movie.
2) Showing how Ka-lel got his powers back. Since it was never explained in the original II,it's nice to see here.
3) The opening scene of Lois jumping out the window.I don't mind the jumping into Niagara Falls scene,but this one thematically serves the same purpose.
4) Some completely unnecessary scenes were cut,mainly the 3 villians in the bar.Utterly pointless.
5)Superman sleeping with Lois BEFORE changing makes more sense continuity wise as far as him having a superhuman son in Returns.If you accept Lester's version that Supes and Lois have sex(and presumably impregnates her at that point) AFTER Supes has been depowered,then they should have produced a perfectly normal human child.
6) The redone opening credits scene,more in line with the original.I liked that John Williams' version of the main theme was reused,as opposed to the Lester cut opening main theme which sounded like it was played by an elementary school band.
Some cons:
1) The first,and most obvious,the time reversal scene completely duplicated from the first movie.Not only is reusing it cheap, but it creates too many loopholes.First,if you accept that Superman 3 and 4 don't exist and that Superman Returns continues from II,then Lois' pregnancy should have been undone,and there should be no child in Returns. Lester's version with the super kiss sucks too,but at least Lois technically would still become pregnant.Of course,that would also mean that she would have no memory of who impregnated her,which than means she shouldn't know that Supes is the father in Superman Returns,yet it seems that she does.Loopholes,loopholes.
And of course, the ass-kicking he received from Rocky technically never happened,yet he still goes back at the end to confront him.Yeah thematically,the bully always needs to get his in the end,but it is still a loophole,and it of course makes it look like Superman just wanted revenge,although that's always been there and it cheapens him.Superman is above silly things like vengeance.
2) The removal of 'General,would you care to step outside?' Loved that line,it is badass through and through.Some of Lester's footage was left in this cut,and that is something I would have left in.The 'freedom' of the press line' don't touch it.
3)The removal of the fight scene in the fortress. It greatly shortens the fight between Superman and the villains.I know people have issues with the atypical powers displayed(plastic S,multiple Supermans,etc),but I always accepted it as Superman,because of him being in the fortress,having access to powers and abilities he wouldn't have outside the fortress.Abilities that he would need to even the score a bit since he was obviously outmanned(and outwomaned) but 3 individuals with his powers.There's no way Superman,through force,would be able to win and by going to the fortress,it evened the odds a bit since he was able to do things that the 3 villains obviously weren't aware of.I always figured that was the point of Supes flying off from the city,as well as to stop any further damage and harm to the people.
4)In Lester's cut,Superman shows up 5 minutes into the movie to attend to the crisis in Paris.Now,I understand that the point of that scene was so that Superman accidently frees the villains by throwing the H bomb into space.In Donner's version,the villians are freed from the exploding rocket that Supes send into space from Superman:the movie.So the paris scene has no point in Donner's cut,but it also means that Superman doesn't show up till like 45 minutes into the movie when he saves the little boy at Niagara falls.Wayyyy too long for him to make his 'first' appreance as Supes.
5) I was personally distracted by the obviously cheap and fake looking effects,especially the outer space ones.Also,the scene in the hotel room where Lois discover's Clark's secret,Clark's hair changing was jarring.Yeah I know it was 2 screen tests woven together ,but nevertheless I found it distracting.It's also interesting to note that Margot Kidder looked different in the Lester scenes and Donner scenes.She was,of course, younger in the Donner scenes,and in my opinion a good deal cuter.Looking at the 4 movies,she didn't age particularly well.
t::
