It may be images of a masked hero scaling the sides of buildings and striking poses on skyscrapers that will stick in the mind, but Spider-Man's strength is that it sticks to the basics of storytelling.

It's the oldest story in the book, albeit with a - excuse the pun - spin. It is about "an unlikely friendship with a girl" and a boy (Tobey Maguire) who, after being bitten by a genetically modified spider during a school science outing, acquires super-spider powers that allow him to win that girl.

The girl in question is the sexy Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst). She lives with her bullying father next door, but the only time she registers the infatuated Peter's existence is when her jock boyfriend humiliates him on the school bus. This all changes, of course.

Director Sam Raimi (Evil Dead, Simple Things) and co have learned from earlier big-budget mistakes and produced something that stands up to the hype. For a movie of this scale (did it really cost US$140m?) it has a surprisingly spare feel.

The film captures the spirit of the comic strip, with short, punchy scenes, minimalist interiors and timeless backdrops. The core cast is kept small - the main characters fit around a kitchen table, and special effects are used with care, never allowed to smother characterisation. Even when Raimi does let loose with a cannon of computer-generated action scenes, later in the film, the emotional life is at the centre of things.

A mark of the film's confidence is its easy comedy. It veers from the gentle humour of blooming romance between Dunst and Maguire to the rip-roaring parody of J.K. Simmons's cigar-chewing newspaper editor, J. Jonah Jameson, who snaps orders at his minions and quips "If they can get a picture of Julia Roberts in a thong then you can get a picture of Spider-Man."

Fun is had with Spidey's first foray into fashion in the wrestling scene (this is where he gets his name Spider-Man) and the script is littered with double-entendres and ironic asides, the most memorable reserved for Peter's old aunt (Rosemary Harris) when advising her nephew to take life easier, "You're not superman, you know!"

Watching the erstwhile nerd get used to his muscular new body and powers - accidentally firing off webs and finding things sticking to his arachnoid hands - is one of the most engaging parts of the film.

Tobey Maguire, better-known for shy, eccentric parts (Cider House Rules, Wonder Boys) is a good fit for the part of the boy-with-a-shadowy-secret-life. As wide-eyed Peter Parker he is bright and sweet-natured. He is not as nerdy as the script suggests, but that means it is easier to share his delight as he learns to walk up walls and swing from buildings.

After this light-hearted start it is his uncle Ben (a sensitive sage played by Cliff Robertson) who provides the key to young Peter's vocation as bad-guy-catcher when he advises him that "with great power comes great responsibility".

Raimi paces the visually-pleasing array of cgi sequences of Spider-Man swinging and spinning about his business that follows well. The romantic thread is never allowed to sag.

It helps having such an able cast. Dunst fits easily into the part of the slightly sad high school babe who develops a crush on the masked man after he saves her. She's sassy yet low-key, as the part calls for.

The serious theatricals are reserved for Willem Dafoe as the ruthless industrialist, Norman Osborn, who after downing an experimental potion, gives birth to his psychotic alter ego, later dubbed the Green Goblin.

Dafoe looks like a craggy piece of Gothic architecture before he even dons his Green Goblin flying suit. When possessed, he jets around on what looks like a supercharged silver funboard blowing his enemies to smithereens. Much is made of the pyschological torpor that Osborn goes through as the voice of his inner demon torments him like a madman cackling from the cellar.

At one point, Oswald is shown talking to himself in a mirror. It's not a totally successful device, but it is good to see Raimi have the confidence in his actors to use it.

The fact that this manipulative devil is close to Peter - his son Harry (James Franco) is Peter's best friend - adds to the tension.

As the film moves to its denouement, it reverts more to formula with airborne bang-whack-pow style fights between good guy and bad. At this point, I wasn't sure how superhero Spider-Man is. He can crash through brick walls and get up and fight. Sometimes he doesn't crash through walls he just bounces off them. How much punishment can he take? How strong are walls in his world? These may seem pedantic questions, but we need to know if Spidey is to be with us for long!