Who are you to decide what fans should and shouldn't like? Or how we should and shouldn't feel about something?
It's called having an opinion, and you would do very well here to respect that.
An off-red (e.g., burgundy) is a bit better. (Some styles of mens cowboy boots - relatively macho - come in burgundy.) But once you make this change for the boots, the trunks and cape need to follow (assuming the traditional color match). So I can appreciate the rationale for the muted red/burgundy color scheme.
Traditionally, Supes’ cape, trunks and boots match color.
Trouble is, bright red boots are tricky for a grown man to get away with.
Given his form-fitting bodysuit, flowing cape, the big S on his chest and - oh, yeah - inhuman physical abilities, there's probably little chance that Superman would be mistaken for someone else.
The original bright primary colors, of course, made Supes stand out on the otherwise drab newsprint pages. But, fair to say, S&S never intended those colors to connote parody or kitsch. We were to interpret Superman as a dashing romantic hero in the same vein as Robin Hood, dArtagnan or Zorro. Times, however, change; and nowadays overly bright colors tend to be construed as clownish or cartoon-y. This may still be fine for an actual cartoon. But a live-action iteration warrants appropriate translation. While the basic color palette is (usually) maintained, the levels are often toned down. And Id argue that this is appropriate and necessary.
I think its very problematic to debate the aesthetics of a grown man wearing trunks on the outside of his tights. (That ones too male stripper that ones too grannys drawers but the third one - thats macho!
) At the end of the day, its still a grown man wearing trunks on the outside of this tights - and an objective observer would likely pronounce the whole dispute silly. For this reason alone, Im rather glad that MOS got rid of them entirely.
