High school senior Peter Parker narrates about his school life, such as how he likes this girl, Mary Jane Watson—except that she already has a boyfriend, Harry Osborn. Peter is also best friends with Harry.

His class takes a field trip to a Columbia University genetics laboratory, specifically the section with spiders. While taking pictures, Peter gets bitten by a spider. When he goes home to his aunt, May, and uncle, Ben, he is tired and falls asleep.

He wakes up the next day to discover that he no longer needs glasses. He has also gained defense skills, web-shooting, and the ability to cling to walls.

At school, Peter gets into a fight with a bully and wins. Later he wants to impress Mary Jane with a car. But he needs money for that. So, he enters a wrestling match.

While at the wrestling match, Peter chooses his wrestling name to be the Human Spider. But the man in charge renames him, “Spider-Man.” Peter wins the match, but does not receive all his earnings.

Unfortunately, not long after, his uncle, Ben, gets killed by the thief who robbed the wrestling match. Peter tries to get back at him. The guy eventually falls to his death.

After graduating from high school, Peter uses his gained abilities to fight crime. He is also offered a job as a freelance photographer since his boss thinks he can provide good-quality photos of Spider-Man.

Later, there is a festival going on. But it is interrupted by a villain called the Green Goblin. Chaos and panic erupt.

When Thanksgiving comes, Aunt May invites Mary Jane, Harry, and Harry’s father, Norman. Norman notices Peter’s injury and suggests that he is Spider-Man.

Before they get a chance to say Grace at dinner, Norman leaves. Peter re-encounters him as the Green Goblin.

The Green Goblin scares Aunt May to the point where she has to be hospitalized. Peter, Mary Jane, and Harry visit her. While there, Peter learns that Mary Jane has feelings for him.

Harry shares that with his dad. This, unfortunately, takes a turn for the worse…

There are many aspects of this movie that stand out to me. As usual, the character development was strong. I loved how Peter Parker balanced his life between fighting crime and being a normal teenage boy.

Speaking of which, the actor who played him, Toby Maguire, was in his mid-20s when this film was shot. But that’s typical in the movie industry. Aside from his acting skills, he looked young enough to play a teenager (or so it seemed—he could’ve just worn youthful makeup).

I also admired Peter’s relationship with Mary Jane and Aunt May. They were both so sweet. The way Peter’s relationship with Harry’s father was executed in such a complex way. A failed work experiment caused Norman to involuntarily develop his alter ego as the Green Goblin.

The action scenes where Spider-Man fought against enemies and saved people kept my attention. I actually wish that there was more action throughout the movie.

One flaw that this film had was how hard it was to follow later on. There was a lot of back-and-forth switching between Peter and Norman’s points-of-view. I know that was important. But it could have been done in a more simplistic way.

Unfortunately, that issue made me check with how much time this film had left. Although I enjoyed the characterization and action, the flaws were almost as big.

Overall, I found Spider-Man to be decent. But I would still recommend it to anyone, say 12 and over. The movie is rated PG-13 for action violence and language. I actually saw this movie in the theaters when I was 8 and got scared easily.

Anyway, I give this movie 3.5 out of 5 stars.