 Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal , pointed out that " the truly amazing thing is that most of what happens to Peter Parker in the first half of the film has already happened in previous chapters of the Spidey saga " , that " what 's old is old again . " However , Randy Myers from the San Jose Mercury News found it " the best Spidey yet " , describing it as " strong , bold and well @-@ acted . " He felt that a viewer couldn 't help but feel déjà vu , but that the work shows greater " dimension " . Dana Stevens at Slate magazine believed that the film was an " absolutely unnecessary " retelling of the origin story , although it avoided " the common comic @-@ book adaptation trap of gloomy self @-@ seriousness " . Peter Travers of Rolling Stone also opined that the " unnecessary " reboot pulled stellar performances from Garfield and Stone and touches the heart . 
