Supergirl

I first saw this movie when i was still a kid, and I enjoyed it then, as would all other children. I have seen it again, and cannot in all honesty understand why it failed. Helen Slater played the role of Supergirl perfectly, and had a strong supporting cast. Perhaps it was not the right time for it, because the macho-male action hero sterotype was still very much prevalent in the 80's. Chances are that movies like G.I. Jane and Alien would also have flopped at the box-office if they was released in the early 80's.

Supergirl was and still is a great film for people of all ages, despite what the critics may have said.

The main problem with SUPERGIRL is the terrible script. It's really bad. The basic idea is BRILLIANT (Supergirl gaining her powers on the go) but the execution is lamentable. Where does Supergirl get her costume? How does the space thingy follow the Omegahedron from inner space to outer space? Why does Supergirl decide to join a school when Argo City is dying? Why does she play field hockey? Why, why, why!!! The script is filled with so many assumptions and plot-holes that it was simply impossible to build a solid movie around it. The script also fails to give any sense of urgency to Supergirl's quest. Her quest is a matter of life and death. Instead of looking for the Omegahedron 24/7, she frolics around here and there while her world might be imploding. The pacing is lackadaisical when it needed to be frantic and urgent. Another problem with the script is that Supergirl doesn't do many super heroic feats. The producers and director were apparently unable to conceive the fact that a female could do heroic stuffs. There are simply not enough heroics going on in the film to be seen as a successful superhero film. As for the combination of magic and sci-fi elements, well, that was actually good and preceded BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER and other current films and TV shows which have amalgamated both genres successfully.

The other thing that drag this movie is the acting. Most of it is terrible. And what makes it worst is the cringe inducing dialogue. It's really bad. You can't really blame the actors for spouting their dialogue with zero conviction. And the special effects are really uneven. One second, they're impressive, the next second they're embarrassing.

But as uneven as SUPERGIRL is, the film does have good things going for it. The film's spirit is right-on. It's good-hearted and light and never takes itself too seriously. Helen Slater is PERFECTLY cast as Supergirl. I'd say she's the best movie superhero ever. And some special effects are pretty good (the scene with the mountain is impressive. I still don't know how they did it). But the best thing in SUPERGIRL is the score by Jerry Goldsmith. It's one of my favorite scores ever. It's just amazing. I give the score a perfect 10. Without the score, Supergirl would probably be impossible to watch. It gives character, importance to the otherwise flimsy direction. Another good thing is the use of widescreen. This film has to be seen widescreen. It looks really terrible in pan and scan mode.

I'm not a big fan of the whole SUPERMAN series but I have to say that I actually prefer SUPERGIRL over any of the bloated SUPERMAN movies. What's great about SUPERGIRL is that it's an "orphaned" movie: there's only one SUPERGIRL flick and because they didn't make any sequels, the film has a timeless and cultish feel to it which makes it more fun to watch than the SUPERMAN films. Because of the lack of sequels, Helen Slater has, indirectly, become an ageless Supergirl. The Anchor Bay DVD is pretty good. The best version is the International Version. The director's version is even more lackadaisical than the I. V., if you can imagine that. Thankfully, the US theatrical version is not included in the DVD set.

While not an epic like "Superman: The Movie", "Supergirl" is an enjoyable movie and it has a special place in my heart just like the first Superman movie.

The beautiful Helen Slater is fantastic in the title role of Supergirl and she easily carries the film. Like Reeve, Slater looks like she just popped out of the comic books and she gives a great performance as both Linda Lee and Supergirl. It's a shame she doesn't have a bigger career than the one she does now.

Faye Dunaway is miscast as Selena and is too campy in the role. The rest of the cast are fine in the movie, and I enjoyed Peter O'Toole's performance as Zaltar. Also, it was nice to see Marc McLure as Jimmy Olsen. However, my biggest disappointment with the film was that Christopher Reeve was not in it. It would have been fantastic to see Superman and Supergirl together.

The script, while good, should have been better and the campiness of Selena thrown out. I've read the original script and that one should have been used as it was slightly better and had some more characterisation in it.

The special effects are fantastic, especially in the flying scenes. I enjoy the Flying Ballet sequence a great deal, it's my favourite flying scene out of all the 'Super' films. This scene has always made me wish I could fly, a desire that was created when I saw the original Superman movie.

The music, which was composed and conducted by the great Jerry Goldsmith, is also one of the film's best aspects and I love it very much. The music is beautiful to listen to and are easy on the ears -- it's very poetic and lyrical which suits the film well.

Anchor Bay released "Supergirl" on DVD last year and they did a magnificent job, doing the film justice. The Director's Cut is the best version of the movie as it provides better characterisation and some explanations for plot holes that are present in the US theatrical and domestic cuts.

"Supergirl" is one of my favourite movies despite it's flaws and I find it to be a much better film than "Superman 3" and "Superman 4: The Quest For Peace".

I could make this very long, or I could make it strict. stricted? yes... This is a truely wonderfull movie that on a mainstreame level has never gotten the attention it deserves. Faye Dunaway is a excellant adversory to Helen Slater and almost everyone in this movie seems to have a great chemistry together wich is outputed highley during it. The special FX are wonderfull and were advanced for its time, many in the movie even to today's standards. It has its roots in artistic litrature, it has heart, because the movie is about a teenager there is a vulrability to it wich feels more humane and personal to a level of a teenager myself...unlike the Superman movies where you simply feel "yes, he's super...he can do anything. good for him" This movie suffered for many reasons wich isn't about its story. It was marketed purley as a Superman "action sueprhero" sort of movie. When the fact is there is a more gentile apraoch to this film, sourcery, love and lots of imaginative things wich make it very unique to the superhero genre. unfortunatley it doesn't do it much favours considering to many it is the worst superhero movie ever. Everything about this movie is very imaginative and creative. From Supergirl flying out of a lake without getting wet to her almost flawless flying ballet (THATS when u believe a person can fly. Unlike Supermans blue screen FX) and the highly inspireing fair ground scenes. This is purley fantasy. Not a Spiderman/Superman action superhero movie wich it was promoted to be. So its real targeted audience didn't want to see it as its trailer and promotion didn't look like "their sorta thing" and the people that did see it were dissapointed as it wasn't what it was said to be. so let me say...STUPID marketting team!simply...its like making American Pie SOUND LIKE the matrix. Many people saw Supergirl and did not expect to see many of the things they saw.

If this film was marketed the way it should have been and released the way it should have been (some countries got a seriously bad edited version wich effected the charactors allot) then this would have been the success everyone thought at the time and still deserves to be This is a great movie and its one of my favourites. I don't think I could praise it enough. I think its not what many people wanted ot see back then though...they wanted explosions, action and they wanted Superman to fit into this film.

I think the fact that Supergirl arrived on earth in the supercostume without no actual logic was bad. Because firstly you need rules, and even more so in fantasy movies. Because it may be fantasy but you still should believe it. I think it could have easily been written in for Supergirl to get her costume. Zaltar could have made her it because she is a big admirer of her cousin Superman. But no, unfortunatley it isn't once explained how and were she got her costume from. Also...the instant costume portrays that she is an instant hero and she wasn't wich let many people down. As she was still nieve, cute and girly and not the strong wilded heroine she turned out to be at the end.

Also, this movie arguable did not fit into the superman mythology very well...But so be it. There is no flaw in this movie that could effect the enjoyment and believability of the movie. On its DVD release there are more visual flaws then I saw on its video release wich is surprising. Not many however but on her first ever flying shot there are...wich makes me cringe. HOWEVER, I am still to see better better flying in a movie that isn't from Supergirl. Highlights of this movie deffanitly are Supergirls flying ballet (you will never see anything as visually wonderfull and pretty as this in a film) and Supergirls scenes with Ethan. This movie is full of heart and art, with beautifull actors and its all acompanied by a wonderfull score wich captures allot of emotion and depth.

I will end this review with that you WILL believe a girl can fly. Because most of the time...it is live flying and not against a screen (when will you learn Superman?)

It could be because I was six the first time I saw it and had a crush on the girl that played supergirl for a long time thereafter, but I enjoy the movie. The special effects are horribly dated compared to what we have become use to in movies, and the acting is not much better. Unless you really like the superman movies, or are under the age of six, the movie would probably be utterly boring. The only good thing that I can say about the movie is that I like it, but I don't know why.