Nah, not even Reeves could save that movie from its overbearing cheesiness. I saw it last year for the first time and I could barely stomach the depictions of the characters. Clark is a bumbling fool. Lois is asking Superman if he has a girlfriend in the first ever interview. Luthor is living underground and has weirdo side kicks. Krypton is apparently made of glass.The thing with the first Superman is that Reeve is so fucking incredible, you don't notice how lame the rest of the movie is
MoS is the best Supes film, but that's a looooow bar
The whole movie felt like bizarro world to me. I couldn't believe anyone would have preferred that to MoS. I don't want to sound overly harsh on the movie though because the movie is about to be like 40 years old. It was a different time.
About the only good thing I drew from the movie was an understanding of why MoS got shit on the way it did. Superman is a textbook Boy Scout in Superman 1 and if that was the only exposure people got of the character over the last 30 years, I can understand why MoS rattled them. Two totally different movies. They might as well exist on opposite ends of the cinematic spectrum.
Just for me tho, MoS is far far superior. Compare the Krypton sequences for a good laugh. We've come a long way.