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90
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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.
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90
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Washington Post Stephen Hunter
An exuberance, a celebration, a hoot, a kick and a half.
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88
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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.
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80
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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.
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80
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Washington Post Desson Thomson
With disarmingly entertaining movies like this, dare I say, who needs big bad superhero movies?
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80
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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."
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75
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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.
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70
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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.
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63
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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.
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50
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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.
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