pleasantly surprised

Rating: 7/10 (3 May 2002)

having been an avid spider-man reader in my younger days, i was looking forward to the theatrical adaptation ever since i heard it was in the making. i wasnt expecting much, i did not want to get my hopes up too high only to be let down. when i heard toby maguire was to play spidey i was apprehensive, i liked the idea of him as peter parker, but spider-man? when i heard kirsten dunst was to play mary jane watson i cursed from anger over what i thought was a bad casting decision. having seen the movie as earliest as i could i can honestly say i was wrong, and the movie was very entertaining. maguire was perfect as both teenage peter parker and wisecracking spider-man. and dunst was surprisingly good as mary jane (i just couldnt see it in the trailers). the plot is admittedly simple and not in depth in the least, but thats okay, as long as the movie is strong enough in other areas, and it is. character development is fairly strong throughout, especially with peter parker and mary jane. alot of emotions are expressed and dealt with, its not all flash and glitter. norman osborne (aka green goblin) isnt developed as much as one would hope, but he plays it very well, especially in scenes where hes losing his sanity. i had issues about the revamped metallic green goblin suit, i just didnt like it before, and im not crazy about it now, but that can be overlooked in the long run. the supporting cast was pretty goood, especially j jonah jameson, he nailed down the comic book spirit. the special effects are mostly well done. some scenes had me bubbling with excitement over how exact spider-mans moves matched the classic comic book poses. i loved the touches. at times the effects looked like digital effects, but what do you expect? this is not a movie to critique on believability (is that a word?). is this a perfect movie? nope, but for what it is, its very well made with nice touches of humanity added to the characters. and thats refreshing in this genre of film. is this an entertaining movie befitting the web slinger we all love? YOU BETCHA TRUE BELIEVERS!