"You're taller than you look."

Rating: 6/10 (13 May 2014)

Nerdy teenager Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) is bit by a radioactive spider and develops new powers and abilities. After the murder of his uncle, Peter decides to use his powers to help people and fight crime. Meanwhile, billionaire Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe) undergoes an experiment that gives him superhuman abilities of his own. It also drives him crazy and sets him on a collision course with Spider-Man.
Maguire, James Franco, and J.K. Simmons are all great. Kirsten Dunst wasn't my ideal Mary Jane but she actually does very good. She's likable and pretty, which is about all the part is asking for here. The Green Goblin is probably the movie's biggest failing. They didn't really get his character right and Willem Dafoe's performance is too campy. Changing him into an armored goon didn't help matters.
The bright, mostly upbeat tone is exactly what a Spider-Man movie needs. However, it does highlight some of the fakeness of the CGI. The special effects are generally good although at times when Spider-Man is complete CGI he has that rubber-limbed thing going on. The organic web shooters bothered me more before I saw the movie than it did while watching. Although I could've done without the gross microscopic closeups of his fingertips to show us how "spidery" he is. Danny Elfman's score is forgettable and not in the same league as his work with Batman.
Not quite the defining movie for Spider-Man as '78 Superman or '89 Batman were for those characters, but good nonetheless. The part of the movie where Peter decides to become a superhero and start fighting crime seems a little rushed and not as momentous as it should have been. It's a good start, though, and the sequel would be all that and more.