The best comic book portrayal yet

Rating: 8/10 (6 May 2002)

When I was a child, I wasn't really into comic books or cartoons all that much. On occasion, I would watch The Adventures of Batman and Robin, The X-Men, and Spider-man. Out of these three cartoons that eventually became movies, Spider-man is by far my favorite. While I don't remember much about the storyline from the cartoon, the specials I have seen on television about the making of Spider-man say they tried to make it as accurate of a depiction as they possibly could. It showed. It did a great job of telling the story of how Spider-man came into being and why he became the crime-fighter he is (and for those who are like me who weren't a big comic-book follower, I'm not spilling it). The action sequences and computer generated effects were also amazing. The casting was very good as well. My roommate and I actually had an argument over how he couldn't believe they would cast a "dork" like Tobey McGuire as Spider-man, but I actually had to remind him that Peter Parker WAS a dork. I don't know if I'll ever convince my roommate that Tobey McGuire was the perfect role, but he is. And it's incredible how much time he put into getting into shape in order to be Spider-man. Word is he spent sometimes more than 4 hours a day getting 'ripped.' Kirsten Dunst (who is my on-again-off-again favorite actress) was also perfect in her role as MJ. She has played similar role types in the past (such as Torrance in Bring It On), and I must say she is SO attractive in red hair! :) So, yes, I would recommend this movie to anyone who is up for a good action movie, regardless of whether they had a detailed comic book following or not