Spiderman, Take 2

This past weekend I went to see The Amazing Spiderman at the local theater.  As a fan of the original Spiderman movies, I was looking forward to this reboot of the series although it did seem a little too soon as the others hadn't been made that long ago.  The story of this new film is very similar to the first Spiderman film as Peter Parker loses his parents, lives with his aunt and uncle, loses his uncle, is bitten by a spider and becomes a superhero.  The differences are a new girlfriend, Gwen Stacy, a different villain and handmade web shooters instead of naturally occurring ones.  What impressed me the most about this new vision of Spiderman was the teenage humor/pranks that Spiderman employs during the film.  He seemed more like a normal teenager who was trying to have fun with his new gifts.  He mocked his villains when they couldn't keep up with him and seemed to toy with them like an older child does to a younger sibling.  The new Spiderman costume was also fantastic, props to the costume team for this great design.  Andrew Garfield was great in the role of Spiderman and I really loved Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy.  Unlike Kirsten Dunst (Mary Jane in the original Spiderman), Gwen Stacy was a strong female character who stood up for herself and willingly participated in the action to save the city from the Lizard.  Mary Jane shied away from danger and screamed most of the time as she always seemed to be captured.  Gwen, however, kept her head, hid from the Lizard and was able to create an antidote and deliver it to Spiderman, through her father, just in time.  The other supporting roles in the film fantastic as well.  Having Martin Sheen and Sally Field as Peter Parker's aunt and uncle was a stroke of genius!  I was moved by their performances and so saddened when Uncle Ben met his inevitable fate.  Denis Leary (Captain Stacy) and Rhys Ifans (Dr. Curt Connors/ The Lizard) were also well cast in their respective roles.  The only thing that was a little off in this version was the speed at which Peter Parker got used to his new skills.  I appreciated the effort it took Tobey Maguire's Spiderman to get used to swinging from his web and use his special skills.  Andrew Garfield's Spiderman was ready to go as soon as he received his powers.  Overall I like both Spiderman films and will continue to enjoy them both as soon as The Amazing Spiderman comes to DVD.