If you liked Superman: The Movie, you want the tone director Richard Donner set in that film, not the slapstick clowning replacement director Richard Lester added to the theatrical cut after Donner was fired. Donner was fired after shooting close to 70% of Superman 2, and after having delivered a blockbuster hit in the original film. When Lester was substituted as director, he reshot the film with more campy (and sometimes stupid) humor, replacing a lot of Donner's footage with his own. The theatrical cut of Superman II is a huge disappointment after the first film.