Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut

Last night Paulie Paul and I sat down to watch the Richard Donner cut of Superman II.
Superman II is one of my favourite films of all time. I saw it at the Cinema, and as far as I can remember it was the first time I had seen anything of that ilk actually at the cinema. I was too young to see Superman: The movie, and I hadn’t discovered Star Wars by then. I was however, obsessed by DC and Marvel Comics, and in particular Superman, Batman and Spiderman.*
I remember my Auntie, visiting from London, taking me to see it as a surprise. I was so excited, and having seen the trailers I knew I wasn’t going to be disappointed. At that time I was obsessive about Superman " I had the wallpaper, curtains, even trainers.
Shreddies were at that time my favourite cereal, and as every child knows, there is usually a free give away related reason for that popularity. These cereal boxes came with free transfers, and the back of the packet could be cut and folded to form a semi 3D scene from the film. I had all the variations, but the city destruction scene was my favourite.
When it came to watching the film as a five year old it blew me away, and that scene in particular was the peak of cinema for me. I’d only seen Pete’s Dragon and all the Disney films prior to that. It wasn’t a high bar to beat.
So it was with a mixture of schoolboy excitement and trepidation that I sat to watch this ‘new’ cut of the film. I was also keen to see if I could spot the subtle differences as well as the major ones.
Having sat through it, and Paul proclaiming that he ‘could see why [Donner] was sacked’ at most junctures in the film, I can say that I actually enjoyed it.
It also feels a bit darker in tone, and the replacement scenes are much better in my opinion than those that made it into the original. There are still a few crappy joke moments in it, but not the daft scenes, like the bloke staying on the phone when it falls over and is swept away by the wind. I was, however, gutted that the scene where Non tries to burn the twig and can’t had been taken out. Otis ‘climbing’ the ladder to the balloon remains though thankfully remains though.
I wont spoil it, but there is a major disappointment at the end, not least because it feels lazy, and it’s been done before (that’s a clue). You’ll see what I mean when you see it. The film also has some really weird cuts in it " it sounds anal to say it, but there are some seriously weird edits that seem a little sharp.
Overall though, I enjoyed it, and unlike the recent Superman Returns debacle, it doesn’t piss on your childhood memories.
*As an aside, during my formative years, I learnt to draw quite well, through tracing comic covers. Mi Mam was always quite good at drawing then, and used to help me. Pretty soon I could do it on my own, but I occasionally needed the odd bit of help.
The day my Auntie told me about the surprise, it was a saturday, and Our Kid’s dad was laid on the couch watching the horse racing on Grandstand, and I asked him to draw me Superman, as Mi Mam was making the tea. What he drew was the worst Superman logo ever (I can still draw it off by heart for the record " not boasting cos it’s actually quite sad), and then added a few speed lines after it. I can still picture it in my mind. Seriously it was rubbish.