It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s … “Superman,” a fun superhero movie that restores Superman’s character as a symbol of goodness.

The film, released in July, is the first entry in DC Studios’ new DC Universe, not to be confused with the failed DC Extended Universe.

The movie opens with Superman (David Corenswet) crashing into the Arctic after losing his first battle in his three years as a superhero. His dog, Krypto, drags him to the Fortress of Solitude, where he recharges with sunlight and jumps back into battle in Metropolis with a villain called the “Hammer of Boravia.”

Central to the plot’s conflict is a war Superman stopped in the days leading up to the movie’s opening scene. Fictional slavic country Boravia had attempted to invade neighboring country Jarhanpur before Superman saved the day.

Now the Pentagon is worried about what Superman’s actions say about the United States, and Superman’s archnemesis Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) wants to exploit the situation to turn public opinion against the hero.

Even Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan), Superman’s girlfriend of three months, questions his motives. His actions as a representative of the United States could cause more problems than they solve, she suggests.

“I wasn’t representing anyone, except for me!” Superman retorts. “And good, I dunno, doing good!”

That’s what defines director James Gunn’s Superman: “doing good.” Unlike the conflicted version in “Man of Steel,” this Superman is happy, optimistic, and unapologetically committed to goodness.

And it works. Superman fights monsters and the machinations of Lex Luthor, but the movie goes out of its way to show him saving people and animals. He cares about people, not politics. When public opinion turns against him, he just wants to find his dog.

Even when he questions his origins, it’s only the why behind his do-gooding, not the actions itself.

“Your choices, Clark,” Pa Kent tells Superman in a moment of personal crisis. “Your actions — that’s what makes you who you are.”

And Gunn made excellent choices with this movie. The actors shine, from Superman to the supporting cast, especially the less well-known hero Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi).

The movie’s aesthetics are bright and colorful, unlike the muted, gritty tones of the failed DC Extended Universe. Lex Luthor plots Superman’s doom like a Silicon Valley mastermind. Superman wears his red underwear outside his pants — and the movie is better for it.

The movie begins in medias res, and Gunn’s world is already fleshed out. Metropolis is filled with other heroes and Lois Lane already knows Superman’s secret identity.

The number of characters might be confusing for new viewers. And it’s no origin story — Gunn assumes the audience has some familiarity with Superman lore.

The movie feels like an episode from the 1990s TV show “Superman: The Animated Series.” It’s quippy and more lighthearted than previous DC movies. Characters are sometimes exaggerated versions of themselves — Ma and Pa Kent, Superman’s adopted parents, have over-the-top country accents, despite living in the Midwest.

This exaggeration could be viewed as a mockery of rural conservatives, which Ma and Pa appear to be. The film certainly drew plenty of criticism from the right after Gunn’s brother made comments about Superman being an immigrant, with Fox News labeling the movie “Superwoke.” Some have suggested the Boravian-Jarhanpurian conflict is a stand-in for the Russia-Ukraine or Israel-Palestine wars.

In fact, the movie is none of those things. Ma and Pa are, the movie says, the reason Superman is devoted to goodness — a suggestion, perhaps accidental on Gunn’s part, that rural conservatives have a better grasp on virtue than liberals would admit. Superman is an alien, but it’s a problem because he’s a super-powered being who came from space, not because he didn’t fill out his immigration forms. And the war between two fictional countries is just a made-up conflict, not a foreign policy statement.

“Superman” may not save the superhero film industry, despite being the highest-grossing superhero movie of the year and beating all three Marvel Studios releases. DC’s flick will have grossed at least $600 million, but it’s still hundreds of millions less than the billions Marvel earned at its peak.

Still, DC seems to consider the movie a success. Gunn has announced a spin-off based on Supergirl (releasing next year) and a “Superman” sequel, and plans for more DCU movies are in the works.

Even if the film didn’t make a billion dollars, it’s a fun story that restores the classic version of Superman’s character. He wants to save everyone, from people to squirrels. The movie leaves the viewer smiling, and that’s a super feeling.