Cartoony, colorful and campy. Entertaining? Sure. Original? Not especially. ** 1/2 out of ****

Rating: Null/10 (6 July 2004)

"Spider-Man" is a movie that comes so close to working, it saddens me I cannot recommend it to die-hard fans of the comic book. Movie fans will enjoy it, but true fans of the character will probably be a little disappointed.
Why you ask? Because it borrows heavily from two other previous superhero movies. "Spider-Man" is like a cross between 1978's "Superman" and 1989's "Batman". Therefore, it's partly devoid of a personality of its own. The identity it does manage to muster out consists of a campy feel and cartoony special effects.
Sometimes Spiderman and the Green Goblin seem more like computer generated cartoons than the actors who play them. It also doesn't help that the Goblin's costume looks like something of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers TV show. However, Tobey Magiure and Willem Dafoe are very good as Peter Parker and Norman Osborn. And so is James Franco as Harry and Kirsten Dunst as his girlfriend Mary Jane Watson.
The movie is well done and it's entertaining to be sure, but it's lacking a serious edge and feel. Something I think a comic book movie should have. This is a fun movie in that Saturday Matinee Serial kind of way, but it could've been better. Thank goodness director Sam Raimi learned the error of his ways and had taken it's sequel in a totally differnt (a.k.a. more serious) direction.
"Spider-Man 2" is a massive improvement over the original and is the best superhero movie ever made. It takes everything wrong about the first film and places it on top of its own head. Like "X-Men 2", the sequel to "Spider-Man" is what I really wanted the first film to be. A great picture. I'll will, however, shower it in acclaim in its own review.
The original "Spider-Man" works in a goofy sort of way. I somewhat liked it, but not as much as I love it's sequel. Regardless, this is a movie that most will like. Thumbs up, sort of.