The Donner cut was lackluster and I prefer the Lester cut. Ideally, a merging of the two cuts together would be fantastic (a Salkind cut?). The Brando stuff was great and it worked better in relation to the previous movie. Most everything else? No so much.
It seemed that Donner was too thrashing towards the Lester material and made changes for the sake of making changes (Honestly, is knocking down the Washington Monument that much better than destroying and recreating Mt. Rushmore?).
I didn't like how he edited out the criminals causing trouble in that small town. It seems to go from them arriving to news reports of all hell breaking loose. There was no need to cut that stuff other than that it was shot by Lester and it gives the film a bad case of "tell and not showing".
And they kept the scene of Clark beating up the guy in the cafe. Why? Clark's encounter with the guy never happened. I know in the Lester version it was kinda petty (though amusing). Here, it makes it worse as the guy didn't do anything. Adding to the fact that the guy seems to reconize Clark, it just makes the entire scene feel off.
Also, after that version was released and seeing a few interviews Donner did (and special features he was in), I lost respect for the director a lot. He comes off as very egotistical almost as if he was the one who invented Superman and that only his way is best.
Yes, the Donner version had some nice alternative character moments and scenes, but I have to give it an overall thumbs down. It is, however, an interesting curiosity.
