I just didn't like how grim and serious the whole thing was.
I think this is ultimately why we don't see eye to eye when it comes to comic books movies.
I would hazard a guess that people who already liked Superman didn't care for the movie and the people who didn't care for Superman before liked the movie. From my experience that's what it seems like at least and for precisely the reasons that Snupes and Vindictus are pointing out.
Jonathan's death was forced. It felt like forced character development, which just ends up feeling cheap.
Do you think it might have felt forced because it was a flashback? Just curious.
I don't have a lot to compare it to since I've never been into the Superman series. But I guess they wanted it as a freak accident where Clark had to make a decision whether to hide or reveal himself. It still felt realistic to me just because freak accidents don't leave a lot of time for decision making and Clark fell back on what he was taught (hiding his powers). Right before Jonathan died they had an argument on what Clark should do, the guilt of calling him out as not actually being his father was probably a factor when he listened to Jonathan's judgement. Throughout the movie that theme is persistent; he loves humanity and will do whatever he can to protect it, but he also fears that they will reject him.