Critics Scoreboard
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Average Critic Score:
88
(12 sources)
88
(12 sources)
-
100
Chicago Sun-Times
Superman is a pure delight, a wondrous combination of all the old-fashioned things we never really get tired of: adventure and romance, heroes and villains, earthshaking special effects, and -- you know what else? Wit. Read Full Review » -
100
Dallas Observer
If not the best superhero movie ever, it's definitely in the top 3. Reeve will forever be Superman to most of us. Read Full Review » -
100
Empire
It hits the characters, feel and look of the comic spot on, especially Reeve in the title role. Read Full Review » -
100
Austin Chronicle
Boasts a smart screenplay by Robert Benton and David and Leslie Newman, striking cinematography by Geoffrey Unsworth (especially in the Smallville sequence), bright comic turns by Margot Kidder and Gene Hackman, and of course, that winning performance by Christopher Reeve in the title role. Believe a man can fly? You bet! Read Full Review » -
100
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Estimates of the movie's costs range between $35-and $70-million; whatever the price, it was not too much to pay. As gods go, Superman is one of the godliest; his movie is one of the best. Read Full Review » -
100
Variety
Magnify James Bond's extraordinary physical powers while curbing his sex drive and you have the essence of Superman, a wonderful, chuckling, preposterously exciting fantasy. Read Full Review » -
90
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Effective both as Superman and as the bumbling Clark Kent, Christopher Reeve still seems ideal for the part. Read Full Review » -
88
ReelViews
There's no doubt that it's a flawed movie, but it's one of the most wonderfully entertaining flawed movies made. Read Full Review » -
80
Washington Post
it's the simple, earth-bound quality of the film that makes this comic-book fantasy soar. Read Full Review » -
70
The New York Times
Superman is good, clean, simple-minded fun, though it's a movie whose limited appeal is built in. Read Full Review » -
70
Chicago Reader
The film is best when it takes itself seriously, worst when it takes the easy way out into giggly camp--as it does, finally and fatally, when Lex Luthor enters the action; Gene Hackman plays the arch-villain like a hairdresser left over from a TV skit. Read Full Review » -
60
TV Guide
The film burdens itself with too many story lines and an overlong (though beautifully photographed) prologue, but things really get moving when Reeve takes the screen. Read Full Review »
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