 Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly gave the film an A- describing the film as " a friskier , sweeter @-@ natured variation " when compared to Raimi 's work . She explained that the most " amazing " element was not the " blockbuster wow ! " but instead the " intimate awww . " Claudia Puig of USA Today explained that " as a new chapter in the superpowered arachnid saga , it stands on its own quite nicely , focusing more on human emotions than on a panoply of special effects . " She said " where Tobey Maguire in the original Spider @-@ Man trilogy was earnest , Garfield 's Spider @-@ Man is whip @-@ smart and likably cheeky , with an undercurrent of teenage angst . " She also called the film " as much a coming @-@ of @-@ age story as a crime @-@ fighting action saga . " Christy Lemire of the Associated Press described Garfield 's Spider @-@ Man as an arrogant and misunderstood outsider , giving the film a " restless , reckless energy and a welcome sense of danger . " She also concluded that Webb was a different sort of director , saying that while Webb 's big set pieces lacked Raimi 's imagination , they conveyed " emotional truth " and " a pervasive sense of humanity " . However , Ty Burr of The Boston Globe felt that the film lacked the original 's pop grace and the pulpy joy , saying the film was " dumbed down , tarted up " and " almost shockingly uninspired " . Burr evaluated it as " the worst superhero film since Green Lantern " . Colin Covert of the Star Tribune also felt that The Amazing Spider @-@ Man is weaker than its predecessor and described it as " The Notebook in spandex " . Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun @-@ Times felt that the reboot provided better reasons for why Peter Parker adopts his superhero role , even if the origin story didn 't need to be told once again . He also remarked that it was " probably the second best " of the four Spider @-@ Man films after Spider @-@ Man 2 , explaining that Lizard was lackluster compared to that film 's villain , Doctor Octopus , and had the dramatic range of Godzilla . 
