Good idea lost in the noise

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Spider-Man: The New Animated Series ~ It's easy to see how this series could be a little polarizing, with its unusual usage of cel-shaded 3D animation, its mature elements, and a few unfortunate departures from Spider-Man tradition, such as Aunt May never appearing, J. Jonah Jameson having precious little role, and most of the villains not originating from the comics (though, since I'm a pretty new and inexperienced Spider-Man fan, I'm probably not as bothered by these things as long-timers). And as with any show, some episodes are better than others. Don't let that turn you off! I personally believe the show has quite a bit of merit and is definitely worth watching. (A bit of warning: The series originally aired out of order and as a result, the episodes are also in the wrong order on Amazon Prime. I recommend you use Wikipedia to determine the right order and watch it that way, as there is some continuity in the show even if it's not a whole lot.)The first question someone might feel inclined to ask is, "What even is this show?" It's definitely a bit non-traditional. It was aired on MTV, is designed to be a follow-up to the first Spider-Man movie (though the movie sequels ignored it), it's not geared towards kids in any way, and of course, the cel-shaded CGI animation style. And it only lasted one season, though it wasn't intended to. In a sense, it feels like this show doesn't have a "place". It's an animated Western superhero show for teens/adults. You don't see many of those. Even other mature superhero 'toons, such as Batman: The Animated Series, still maintain some pretense of being children's shows, eliminating swearing and the like, while this one doesn't.And you know, it's almost kind of a shame that such cartoons aren't a "thing". Because in my opinion, this show demonstrates the potential of action cartoons geared to teens and young adults. Sure, they may have gone a bit too far in the "gearing to young adults" thing considering it apparently kept them from showing much of "old people" such as Aunt May, Uncle Ben, or J. Jonah Jameson. But even though it takes a while to get used to, overall, I'm actually super sold on this show's aesthetics and how much they seem to jive with the target audience. The unique style seems to already separate this show from traditional kids' cartoons, the character designs are a bit more grounded and even sexier in places (though it's certainly not overkill), and then there's the neat EDM soundtrack. It all just seems to work together rather nicely.Yes, I'm not gonna lie, at first the animation seemed weird and bad to look at because it was so unusual. But when you get used to it? Honestly, it's pretty cool. The character designs have a feeling of being relatively grounded and it has the capacity to be very expressive and dramatic. It just works a lot better than you might imagine. And they use it for some great action sequences in places, too.Beyond aesthetics, this show has a ton else to offer. For me, how characters interact and their relationships with each other is one of the most crucial aspects to me really getting hooked into any series, and this show delivers on that front. The interactions between Peter, MJ, and Harry are well-developed and make them feel like a real group of friends. There's complexity to their relationships and room for growth, some of which happens, some of which is tragically unresolved. They're good friends, but there are plenty of rough spots. There's the fact that MJ and Harry are "normal" college kids with actual social lives, while Peter is the nerd dedicated to his studies...and secretly being Spider-Man. There's the fact that Harry has a deep personal grudge against Spider-Man due to believing him responsible for his father's death. There's the unresolved romantic tension between Peter and MJ that's made all the more complicated by Peter's interest in a show-exclusive character, Indy. There's an air of authenticity in the combination of casual, fun interactions and other hallmarks of friendship and the many problems the characters have. And the problems don't just exist, there are attempts to make progress on them...some more successful than others.The interpersonal issues and superhero adventures are not only rather well-balanced, there's often quite a bit of overlap that usually works pretty well (there are even a couple times when Peter's friends have to help him save the day). There's quite a bit of quality dialogue, and the story lines are usually pretty good and sometimes very nicely dramatic. It's not a perfect show, and some of the episodes are rough in various ways. But there's still a fair amount of good plotting to be found.The two-part series finale deserves a special mention as among the series' best, yet also rather heart-rending (it took me a little while to "recover"), as it's a MASSIVE downer ending that makes it seem like even more of a tragedy the series didn't go on longer. Extremely dramatic, gutsy, and well-done. They really pulled no punches here and it works! Even thinking about it gives me chills.Overall, there's SO MUCH about this series that is great. It has drama, emotional depth and intensity, compelling character relationships, aesthetics that can be awesome when you get used to them, a splash of more dark and mature themes that work rather well, and much more. No, it's not perfect, but it's definitely worth a go for anyone interested in Spider-Man or superhero cartoons in general.

I've always liked Spider-Man, and I have always enjoyed this show. Maybe it is not as good as the 90s series, but it is a hundred times better than Spider-Man Unlimited. It does have its problems, the show's ending did feel rushed and the Kingpin is rather bland this time around, too much of the standard crime boss sort of character. You also do wish that Aunt May was involved in this series, she always had that heart-warming sincerity and care for Peter that I think would have balanced the tone of the story lines even more if she was included. There is also not enough Jameson. That said, when I first saw the show I saw potential and on the most part the potential is lived up to. Having Spider-Man in computer-animation may be a shock to the system for some, but while I am a traditional-animation fan myself I really liked the animation here. The character designs are very well defined and the backgrounds are full of atmospheric colours and detail. The music is hauntingly beautiful, with a simply awesome theme tune. The writing is intelligent, thought-provoking and even Peter's wise-cracks raises some amusement, while the story lines have a very dark centre to them with the themes and the violence but does so in a way that does hit you hard but not in a heavy-handed way. The action sequences are very exciting, while of the villains Electro, Roxanne and especially the Lizard stand out. Kraven also intrigued me. The voice acting I think is very good, Neil Patrick Harris not only conveys Spider-Man's broodiness but also with the wise-cracks he gives a quirkier side as well, in short he makes the character his own while never deviating too far from it. Michael Clarke Duncan does do a fine job with the Kingpin, I just wish that the character was more interesting. Kathy Griffin as Roxanne is brilliant, as is Ethan Embry as Electro, and Rob Zombie gives a menacing and poignant edge. All in all, a very good show that should have lasted longer. 8/10 Bethany Cox

This series was awful, but it's Spider-Man so I had to give it some stars. As a huge Spider-Man fan, I wanted this series to work, but it just didn't quite become what it should have. Things like his spider-sense telling him there's a bomb on the car instead of just warning him of danger. They couldn't even get that right. Yes, it's just wrong when they can't even get the character or his basic powers right. The show has quite the cast (the best by far being Michael Clarke Duncan as the Kingpin, reprising his role from the live action Daredevil), but so much of the casting and voice acting feels way off. The story lines want to be original, but in so many ways they could have been fill-in-the-superhero stories, not Spider-Man stories. They are often college stories and villains with only a few Spider-Man villains appearing, which is sad considering there were 13 episodes. Spider-Man of the 90's was great, and Spectacular Spider-Man was fantastic (though the Sony DVD releases are a Sony rip-off giving 3 episodes for $20). This Spider-Man was an weak attempt: they added nothing to the Spider- Man mythos, had no stories that grabbed me, the swearing geared the series to teens but there was still had no real intelligence to the stories. It wasn't just weak or a wannabe series, it was stale. Very very stale and disappointing. At times it felt like they had weak stories already written, and threw Spider-Man in just to make them more interesting...

I was excited over the prospect of a new Spidey 'toon, having a poor follow-up in Spidey Unlimited after the successful 90s series. From the start, I wasn't a fan of cell-shading as I think it only cheapens what computers can really do. However, it was more than the animation that made this series a piece of crap.Continuity was more of a joke than it currently is in the comics! In one episode, we have Electro who gets fried at the end, only to have him appear in the next episode perfectly human with no acknowledgment by Spidey at all! The writing definitely sealed it as an MTV show as the scripts just weren't all that good. Some of the casting choices were also questionable. Michael Dorn as Kraven? Really? (Although I did enjoy Michael Clarke Duncan as Kingpin, even if they confused his massive muscle mass with massive overeating). Outside of one or two, the villains were lame and some were just carbon copies of pre-established ones. And, on a personal note, New York did NOT look like New York. Not a major negative I hold against a show, but it could've helped it a bit.This was an attempt to continue on in the sense of the movie continuity, and they failed miserably. It became just a pale imitation of the Ultimate comic series. I heard it was going to be brought back for a second season on a different network, and I hope if it is they seriously improve this trash. Otherwise, I hope I never have to see it again. You want a real Spider-Man cartoon? Go watch the 90s one. Hell, even the 80s one is better than this. MTV GARBAGE.