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Spider-Man
(May 2002)

Spider-Man, Spider-Man
does whatever a spider can, spins a web, any size
catches thieves just like flies
look out here comes the Spider-Man

Is he strong? Listen bud
he's got radioactive....um...genetically mutated super spider blood....

After 40 years Spider-Man finally breaks out of the comic books and onto the big screen. Die hard comic book fans will no doubt be disappointed with the departures that the big screen adaptation takes from the comic book series. Sure Spidey now shoots webs straight out of his arms and Gwen Stacey is no where to be found. So what. Does that stop the movie from being a lot of fun - No.

With great power comes great responsibility, and Sam Raimi has lived up to the task. Spider-Man is a fun movie to watch. We watch with joy as Peter Parker, played by Tobey Maguire, learns to use his new powers. Leaping effortlessly from building to building, crawling up walls and trying every comic book catch phrase in an attempt to get his web shooter to work. In fact , this is the first comic book movie I can recall where we are allowed to witness the process of someone becoming a super hero and not just being a super hero.

Of course every super hero needs a super villain. Willem Dafoe plays the role of the Green Goblin with a manic glee. Dafoe was also able to capture the duality between Norman Osborn and the Green Goblin wonderfully. Add the girl next door, Mary Jane, played with all the sweetness you'd expect by Kirsten Dunst. And one best friend, Harry Osborn, played by James Franco who is out acted by the rest of the cast.

Even though I truly did enjoy this movie the one place it is sadly lacking in is the CGI sequences. The scene with Peter jumping to and from rooftops is so shockingly fake looking that it pulls you briefly out of the movie. The rest of the Spider-Man scenes are fairly well done which is more than I can say about every scene with the Green Goblin and his flying machine.

All the Sam Raimi fans out there might want to keep your eyes peeled to spot the cameo appearances by Lucy Lawless, Bruce Cambell, Ted Raimi and Stan Lee. After the movie if you're still hungry for more fear not true believers, because word is a sequel has already been green lighted with Raimi to direct.

Rating: PG-13 for some violence.