Too similar, too light.

Rating: 6/10 (2 July 2012)

I had feared a not true to comic book storyline. What I got was a slow and borderline boring first half with the same story being retold with minute changes. Even the origin story of the antagonist is too similar to the Green Goblin storyline --> pressure of success and personal demons lead to a good guy taking risks of the bio-chemical kind and turning evil.
While the action sequences are good and the 3d is great, the storyline and the screenplay is (for the lack of a better word) extremely 'teenybopper' in nature. I know that the characters are teenagers, but at times I felt like the scene was out of gossip girl.
What I did like were the actors. Garfield was OK, but Stone, Sheen, Fields, Leary and Ifans are immensely likable and did a good job.
The light tone of the movie and the treatment ensure that it will have a an extremely wide reach. The audience was primarily made up of families in the theater where I saw the movie. This wide reach will lead to this movie making a lot of money, and it may even do better than Avengers and TDK but is not even close to being in the same league.
I hope that the minor changes in the origination plot will lead to a better sequel (there will be one) that is grittier and darker and tells us a new story.