Reviews

I went into Superman Returns trying to keep low expectations, but I wanted to get excited. I had heard some of the plot lines (which I will NOT reveal here), and was mostly unimpressed, but thought Singer worked it out, although not spectacularly. I was not even that impressed by the effects. I was put off right away even by the opening credits, which felt a bit cheesy to me. The pace was very slow, and even so, the movie lacked depth in some areas that I feel were missed opportunities.

There are opportunities to hear what is on Superman's mind, and he is basically reduced to one line of dialog. I think that is what is really missing here - there was no depth in the dialog for Superman. Lois has a bit, but it's not enough. Lex steals the show speaking wise (why not when you have Kevin Spacey), but in the end, I found this long plodding movie somehow lacking.

Madagascar is pretty much a failure of a movie. It was boring, unfunny and provided almost no interest except perhaps musically (there was good use of popular music). Some of the gags are 50 years old, and seemed that stale. Maybe if you have never seen an original Bugs Bunny or Woody Woodpecker or Chilly Willy it might be a bit more interesting. I agree with others out there, the penguins are the best part, but still fit with the rest of the picture - uninspired. The animation is nice - and they nail the Central Park Zoo, but it just never clicked for me. And, as an aside review, the part of the movie that my 3.5-year-old thought was best was actually in the credits at the end.

Last comment - listen for the character who in an off moment yells "Sugar, Honey, Iced - Tea!" This went over most of the viewer's heads (good thing, since the first letter of each word spells a S-starting four-letter word). I only picked it up because I try to explitive SUGAR! instead of the S-word at my G-rated home.