Peter Parker: A Man for the Ages

Take your kids, run don't walk.

My kids don't read comic books. I never did, but somehow I think of boys who don't as somehow missing something. Various strains of goodness and evil, power, fame, shame and desperation course through the veins of comics. I haven't known very many introspective geeks who didn't feel a special attraction to the X-Men. But the most human comic hero ever was and still is your friendly neighborhood Spiderman, in the latest film he's a hero once again by golly!

I can't say how many universes I know vaguely, but of all the ones I do know, only the cartoon universe of Spiderman carries so much emotional weight in the form of love. Peter Parker's troubles are one degree further into melodrama than a soap opera, and yet I can't think of a purer way to communicate something about the maturity of love to pre-teens than is done in this flick. In a world of wimped out sitcom dads and kung-fu cartoon chicks who do six backhandsprings as a windup to anything, there's something charmingly real about a movie about friendship, love, betrayal and redemption at the Spidey level. You killed my father is written all over it, something we sophisticates are tempted to call hokey. And you have to stop your inner snark, at least I did, from combating the sniveling scenes of heartbreak in this movie. But if you can, then you'll find it magnificently touching, like a Nancy Wilson song, simple, pure and heartfelt.