Good, but where are Spidermans poses and cocky attitude?

Rating: Null/10 (11 July 2004)

First of all, let me say that Spiderman 2 is far better than the first. However, I consider the first to be very overrated, so that doesn't say much. Again with SM2, I feel I'm battling overratedness.. so excuse me if I get a little rough on it. >:)
The movie contains several gems; action-gems, emotional gems, humour-gems.. Peter Parker vs the two kids (you'll know it when you see it, brilliant), and there were a lot of heart-rushing action scenes. The movie has nerve all along, and you ALMOST don't get bored during the whole film. So why am I so ambivalent about it?
First of all: The CG is bad. Sorry folks. The CG is not near the quality of LOTR or whatever. Check out Spidey himself. Like many CG objects, he always seems a tad too light or plastic-y, he doesn't seem to jump or fall with normal gravity. Or Doc Ock's arms, although indeed nice looking, I never really got the feeling his arms were really stuck in his back. So, CG needs improvement.
The movie has a lot of emotional nerve, which is a good thing, and an important part of the Spiderman universe. This movie is about 80-90% drama (!), believe it or not. Only problem with that, it's carried by too many "hollywood-style motivation/emotion speeches". Yawn! One of Auntie May's went something like: Always follow your dreams, believe in yourself, there are true heroes, don't run with scissors, never abandon your hopes, bla bla bla. Hollywood filler chatter! MJ had similar lines; OBVIOUSLY artificial. Direction also needs improvement.
And Mary Jane, she's not ugly here, BUT - she's just not pretty. Her character's made up to be this model-style beauty, which she's not. She was in the cartoon, but she's not a beauty here. Now don't get me wrong, I love the concept of "normal looking people" in movies, but I hate people obviously miscast. Why chase a marriage-hungry dull girl like that, Spiderman? PS: MJs "ironed" 2000-style haircut never looked good on anyone, boy or girl. SO: Casting needs impr.... well, too late for that. (I realize you're married, Raimi, but DON'T miscast Felicia Hardy too)
The main problem I have with this movie, however, is where it slips most from the cartoon concept. We've seen CG and wire-battles so many times now, it's been done so good before, so why should we remember Spideys battles when we walk home from the cinema? Well. Spiderman's battles in the cartoon was all about poses, Spideys cocky attitude and brilliant lines when he was fighting the bad guys. It was original, it was fun. Where is it here?! The battles themselves thus become a little anticlimactic ("seen that before"), so they just crush a lot of stuff and make Spidey "almost die" all the time in stead. Comic adaption needs improvement..
Phew. Well, as I said; it's not a bad movie, but it's not quite up there as a top 250 movie either. That said, this movie does contain several gems, if you have a "girlish" girlfriend she won't be bored to tears by it - it IS highly watchable. 8/10