Superman II

With his perfect pacing, elegant narrative design, and depth of characterization, Richard Lester has made as good a matinee movie as could be imagined: it's a big, generous, beautifully crafted piece of entertainment, with the distinctive Lester touch in the busy backgrounds and the throwaway dialogue. Read full review

It brings the fantastic into our everyday lives; it delights in showing us the reaction of the man on the street to Superman's latest stunt. Read full review

It boasts a more consistent tone, better special effects (such as villains throwing buses around like paper planes), and even an affecting love story. Read full review

A sequel that retains the gee-whiz geniality of the original while still going in interesting new directions. Read full review

Even more enjoyable than the original. [19 June 1981]

Superman II delivers on the promise hinted at in "Superman." Which is the better film? That's a hard choice to make, since both succeed in different ways. Read full review

Poking fun at its American mythos, but never descending into camp comedy, this sequel makes for a wonderful time. Read full review

It has charm and a lot of entertaining kinkiness, too.

A marvelous toy. It's funny, it's full of tricks and it manages to be royally entertaining, which is really all it aims for. Read full review

Superman II emerges as a solid, classy, cannily constructed piece of entertainment which gets down to action almost immediately. Read full review

A stylish, well-paced film with a good variety of moods and moves. Read full review

Manages to gain classic comic book feature status through a combination of great stunts and a great human angle. Read full review

Superman II is a success, a stirring sequel to the smash of '79. Whether you will prefer it to the original is like choosing between root beer and Fresca. They're both bubbly, but the flavor is different. What the follow-up doesn't have is the epic lyricism of Richard Donner's version; it's harder edged, fleeter on its feet, less reverential. [22 June 1981, p.87]

The film's message may be a clichéd staple of comic books - with great power comes great responsibility - but it's handled with sincerity and skill. Read full review

The thrust of the film is to escalate the Superman idea to the point where the charm is no longer visible. A snide and knowing viewpoint has left a cloud of smudge over the original clean satire. [19 Jun 1981, p.19]

Superman II" gets off to a fast start (in part by recapitulating the plot of the original film in the credit sequence), only to evolve into a curiously absent-minded follow-up...What seems to have been lost is the straightforward heroic exuberance of the original film, despite Reeve's gallant and endearing efforts. [19 June 1981, p.C1]