(My memory a year later is uncharitable.)  Yeah, visually it had it's moments, but I think part of the problem wasn't that they failed with teh Superman character, but it was a character that was as shallow as it was creepy.  It was also about an hour too long.  I'm kinda down with TQM, in that the comics are pretty capable of destroying the character all by themselves, but Returns  relied on the iconic bit, and on the previous films too, I mean the title is "returns." 

It's not so much taht they dared reinvent, they didn't bother to get what they were reimagining.