Spider-Man

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

It's hard to recall the last time a big-ticket summer movie delivered so fully on its promise.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Reminds us of just how exciting and satisfying the fantasy cinema can be when it's approached with imagination and flair.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Staff (Not credited)

Spider-Man brings the beloved comic-book character to the screen with both angst and action undamaged by the move.

New Times (L.A.) Gregory Weinkauf

The effects are smashing, yet there's a heart behind them.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Maguire and Dunst keep Spider-Man on a high with their sweet-sexy yearning, spinning a web of dazzle and delicacy that might just restore the good name of movie escapism.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

An exuberance, a celebration, a hoot, a kick and a half.

Film Threat Michael Dequina

Just about the truest and most satisfying screen adaptation most anyone could have ever hoped for.

Salon.com Charles Taylor

What holds the movie together is its modest, sweet spirit.

USA Today Mike Clark

This is a rare twisted crowd-pleaser for longtime fans as well as novices -- or for those that don't know an arachnid from an insect.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

Spider-Man is an almost-perfect extension of the experience of reading comic-book adventures.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

With disarmingly entertaining movies like this, dare I say, who needs big bad superhero movies?

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Every action adventure needs a memorable villain, but no movie needs the strident intensity of Mr. Dafoe, who either has no interest in, or no grasp of, the sort of charmingly malign wit that Gene Hackman brought to "Superman," or Jack Nicholson to "Batman."

The New York Times Dana Stevens

Spider-Man, while hardly immune to these vices, is, like Mr. Maguire, disarmingly likable, and touching in unexpected ways.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

With centrifugal force on his side, Spider-Man dips, weaves, and whooshes past, up, and around the camera -- it's a rush, and it plasters a grin on your face even after you've left the theatre.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

What distinguishes Spider-Man from most other comic book movies is that the film is at its most engaging when its hero is out of costume.

Chicago Tribune Mark Caro

The Spider-Man saga is a classic for a reason, and the filmmakers don't squander the material's strengths.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

Surprisingly charming and even witty match for the best of Hollywood's comic-book adaptations.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

A canny franchise escapade; it gets the job done. But it also leaves you hungry for something more, and I don't necessarily mean the next episode.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

When the cast and their director are really cooking, they conjure a bipolar sense of high school-age emotion -- and use it to fuel outrageous fantasy.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

There's a particular upside-down, half-masked kiss that instantly becomes one of movie history's more memorable smooches. It's the kiss to send any teenaged boy on a spinning high, as well as launching the new age of arachnophilia.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

It's got one of the best kisses in movie history: Spidey, hanging upside down, delivers an open-mouth smooch to Mary Jane, a lip-lock for the ages.

Boston Globe Sam Allis

Raimi crafted a complicated hero who is a welcome relief from the usual two-dimensional offerings. That said, we could use some moxie in the sequel.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

This is a pure popcorn movie -- the kind of film one can unabashedly enjoy for what it is. There's plenty of visual flash and dizzying action, but not at the expense of the other qualities that make for a complete motion picture experience.

Chicago Reader J. R. Jones

Between the kinetic and often exciting chase scenes, screenwriter David Koepp plays with every teen's yearning for a secret identity, and Tobey Maguire is charming as the insecure superhero.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Spider-Man may look like an action comic come to life, but its best feature is its romance comic heart. It's that rare cartoon movie in which the villain is less involving than the love story.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

Mildly cheesy but not overwrought, this long-awaited future franchise is a competent seat-warmer at the box-office table for the two weekends preceding George Lucas's "Attack of the Clones."

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

This fast-paced entertainment is a surprisingly successful mix of spectacle and human-scale drama.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Pic's happiest surprise is Tobey Maguire in the title role, as the young actor provides an emotional openness and vulnerability that gives this $120 million production its most distinctive flavor.

Newsweek David Ansen

Director Sam Raimi, working from David Koepp's screenplay, wisely anchors his big action-adventure flick on Maguire's modest but beguiling persona.

Slate David Edelstein

This is a star-making performance, as fresh and funny as Christopher Reeve's in Superman (1978).

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The origin story is well told, and the characters will not disappoint anyone who values the original comic books. It's in the action scenes that things fall apart.

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

Despite all the computer-generated effects and highflying superhero theatrics, this roughly $120 million movie is, with few exceptions, remarkable only in its small human touches.

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

The movie, with spiderlike timidity, scuttles into a corner and freezes. [13 May 2002, p. 96]

Time Richard Corliss

Raimi directs the film at Maguire's pensive pace. Some scenes are just inert.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

I'll sum up my reaction in a word: Yawn.

LA Weekly Manohla Dargis

Perhaps the real question, then, isn't how you update Spider-Man but why you would even try. Introduced in 1962, the original superhero helped to initiate the age of modern comics. Raimi hasn't figured out how to reconfigure him for the blockbuster age, and there are suggestions.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

The superhero part of the movie will leave audiences with a flat feeling, thanks to computery-looking special effects and a sagging story line.