That's not the reason the movie sucked. It was due to Singer infatuation with the Donner's movies. Returns is take by take a remake of Superman the movie. Scenes and dialogues are virtually copy/pasted from film to film. Sheere unoriginality that's what killed SR
This is simply not true.
The television series, 'Smallville' has a lot more in common with the original 'Superman' movie directed by Richard Donner than 'superman returns'.
'superman returns' was truly awful... as in, god-awful. 
Smallville was crap too. Too trapped in the past. too trapped in the gooffball Clark Kent who couldn't learn to fly even though every other kryptonian appearing in the show flew right away. A pile of nostalgic crap just like Superman returns.
In Smallville Clark wasn't a goofball like Donner's Clark Kent. If anything he was angsty, earnest, and at times a bit too somber (when he was the Blur but dressed more like the Punisher). There was some humor in Smallville but I don't remember much of it coming from Clark being overly nerdy like Reeve's Kent. And Clark was a victim of the "no tights, no flight" rule that went on far beyond its expiration date. It had nothing to do with him being a goofball.
I thought Smallville did a pretty good job paying homage to the Donner films while con-temporizing Superman for today's audience. Whereas with Superman Returns I think it was a slavish attempt to latch onto the Donner films without the charm and appeal of the Donner/Reeve's cast. The story also lacked enough action and super feats and the lifting of the kryptonite-island was just too much, the one super feat in the film that actually shouldn't have been done. The best casting choice, Kevin Spacey as Luthor was wasted on an inferior film.
I liked Smallville for the first couple of seasons when I thought it was going to last only for 3 or 4 seasons. Then they started to delay the outcome and it got boring and convoluted real fast. Never liked the idea of Clark and Luthor knowing each other in Smallville. By goofball I meant "dense". They made him dumb and indecisive on purpose to elongate the plot. I think the series got hindered by been part of the CW known for their soap operish style aimed at teenage girls. Hated that nonsense of the blur. It was like they were ashamed of Superman. Yeah let's have Clark doing Superman stuff but we won't call him Superman and he will be dressed like The Crow or The Punisher. Also instead of hiring an actor let's hire an underwear model to play the part.
I do agree that they made Clark a bit too indecisive and they drug things out. I also agree that perhaps it did seem like they were embarrassed to some extent, or maybe reluctant to fully embrace Clark as Superman. Even at the very end he was only Superman for a handful of scenes. I also read that Tom Welling never wore the suit, that it was CGI, but I don't know if that's true or not. I have to say that this reluctance to fully embrace Clark as Superman perhaps was due to a skittish in general in the early 2000s about portraying comic book superheroes. It was territory not traveled down that much in a serious vein. Even Lois and Clark had the angle of the romance between them and I didn't watch that show, but wasn't Superman sort of incidental to that show? To that point there hadn't' been a lot of successful shows featuring a costumed superhero. And I think there might have been a very real fear that a Superman show would only appeal to a limited number and a lot of potential new fans would pass on it. I think that was actually proven correct. I think Smallville got some fans that a Superboy/Superman show wouldn't have gotten.
Now the more it went on I do think they should've dispensed with the reluctance and let him be Superman. I mean they started bringing in other superheroes and villains, adding more of Superman's mythology. I don't get the reluctance. I was okay with the Blur though. That's like him in transition. I do wish he had worn a mask then though and we could see why he would choose not to wear one due to that experience.
I thought Welling was okay as Clark. I thought he had the earnestness down. I thought he did well with some of the angst and longing for Lana in the earlier episodes. Granted he wasn't the greatest actor but he wasn't a terrible actor either.
I would much rather have seen Smallville end in Season 5 and go to the movies than them do Superman Returns.