The original Superman, directed by Richard Donner, was one of the most disjointed, stylistically mixed-up movies ever made. The mystico-sublime rubbed elbows with low farce and pop irony, and everything gave way to disaster-movie squareness in the end. But now all is well. Richard Lester, of Beatles-movie fame, took over the direction of Superman II, and Lester has brought unity and a high style to the material. The fantasy and playfulness that Lester has always striven for fall to him easily this time, and without the nagging, jumpy irritability that turned so many of his other movies sour. (pp. 49-50)

Superman II is still a pop daydream, but it has its roots in common feelings …, and the emotion enlarges the fantasy, takes the pre-packaged gleam off it. (p. 50)

David Denby, "The Decline and Fall of Mel Brooks," in New York Magazine (copyright © 1981 by News Group Publications, Inc.; reprinted...