Career gal Lois Lane is now a single working mom. The Daily Planet newsroom thrums with the sound of TV newscasts. And 12-year-olds with camera phones capture Superman in mid-rescue, as if they were paparazzi or young Peter Parkers.

	Brandon Routh Click photo for larger image. 'Superman Returns' Rating: PG-13 for some intense action violence. Starring: Brandon Routh, Kate Bosworth, Kevin Spacey. Director: Bryan Singer. Web site: www.supermanreturns.warnerbros.com Related articles James Marsden often plays the third wheel Measuring the men of steel Family Film Guide: 'Superman Returns' Reader reviews

Yes, "Superman Returns" to a very different world from when we saw him last on the big screen, but he still carries the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Sometimes, that means stopping the massive metal globe atop the Planet building from streaking to the pavement like a comet. Sometimes that means trying to thwart Lex Luthor's diabolical plan to become a real estate baron at the expense of the lives of billions of people.

It turns out the world may need Superman after all, despite Lois Lane's prize-winning editorial, "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman."

The world needs Superman so that, when someone asks the inevitable question of "What movie should I see this summer?" critics can finally say, "Superman Returns." (A note to parents, however. The movie is 154 minutes long, and its PG-13 rating for intense action violence is on the money.)

"Superman Returns," opening on some screens tonight at 10 and everywhere tomorrow, does honor to the storied franchise. It leaves the door wide open for sequels. It stars an actor named Brandon Routh who looks and sounds so much like the late Christopher Reeve that it's both eerie and oddly comforting. Watching him is like meeting a stranger who reminds you of a loved one who passed away; the newcomer instantly gains your trust and goodwill.

Sprinkled throughout are iconic images, catch phrases, musical themes and that swoon-worthy moment when Superman takes Lois for a spin through the silky night skies. The late Marlon Brando even makes another appearance as Superman's father, Jor-El. The recycled use of his image and voice is brief enough so that it doesn't seem morbid, distracting or exploitative.

In "Superman Returns," we learn that Superman dropped out of sight for five years, searching -- futilely -- for traces of his past, only to end up back on the Kent farm in Kansas. Ma Kent (Eva Marie Saint) is there for him, just as she was years earlier when he was exuberantly bounding through the cornfields.

During Superman's absence, the villainous Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) was released from prison, snookered an elderly heiress (Noel Neill, who played Lois Lane in film serials and on TV) and married her. When she dies in the movie's opening scenes, Lex inherits her fortune and uses it to tap into the secrets Jor-El intended for his only son, Kal-El.

But Kal-El, disguised once more as reporter Clark Kent, makes his way back to Metropolis and the Daily Planet newsroom. There, he learns that Lois now has a fiance (James Marsden) and, more shockingly, a young son (Tristan Leabu).

All of that becomes secondary when Clark realizes that Lois and countless others are about to die. She's covering the launch of a shuttle from the back of a jet and a blackout triggers a disastrous chain of events. The shuttle fails to disengage, and the plane begins to burn, crack apart and spiral to the ground, headed toward a crowded baseball park.

Superman comes to the rescue in a magnificent, dizzying sequence and lands back on the front page of the Daily Planet. As editor Perry White (Frank Langella) declares, three things sell newspapers: tragedy, sex and Superman.

Lois, however, continues to insist that the world doesn't need a savior and neither does she. Every day, however, Superman hears people crying for one, and he will hear a cacophony of pleas once Lex pulls the trigger on a dastardly plan that would eliminate Lois and her son, cripple Superman and take over the world with his mistress (Parker Posey) at his side.

Spacey, his head shaved, makes a dandy villain, having some fun when he rolls his "R" in pronouncing "kryptonite" but being deadly serious in his desire to hit Superman where it hurts. Bosworth lacks the fire in the belly that a young Reese Witherspoon (think "Election") might bring to the dogged reporter but sweetly clicks with Superman and the boy. Marsden is an appealing addition to the franchise, as is young Leabu, who seems nicely unmannered and innocent. Refreshingly so.

"Superman Returns," directed by Bryan Singer, who famously launched the X-Men movies, and written by Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris, is about many things, beyond its action and adventure. It's about families -- especially fathers and sons -- alienation, destiny, salvation and hope.

As Martha Kent comforts her adopted son, "Even if you're the last, you're not alone." As Jor-El advised: "Even though you've been raised as a human being, you're not one of them. They can be a great people, Kal-El. They wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way."

"Superman Returns" starts on a dark and disturbing note, with a dying, duped woman declaring her love for a gold digger, but it slowly climbs toward the light. Much like Superman himself.

Welcome back. We missed you.'Superman Returns'