WHEN Tim Burton got his hands on Batman, he transformed the camp polyester prince into the dark knight.

And it worked perfectly - twice.

But, apart from a couple of dodgy TV movies, no one has tackled Spider-Man before, so Sam Raimi had nothing to get away from and made the right decision in preserving the comic book format.

The major difference is that the web now shoots out of a gland rather than a device invented by Peter Parker.

Which makes a lot of sense. Because where did he keep all that rope in his Lycra outfit anyway?

Spider-Man is a cracking superhero movie.

It flows well, is extremely watchable and it still has a comic book feel to it, especially in the fight scenes.

High school student Peter Parker gets bitten by a genetically modified spider and begins to undergo some dramatic changes.

Meanwhile, scientist Norman Osborn doesn't have time to wait for permission to test his new superhuman formula, tests it on himself and undergoes changes of his own.

Peter Parker begins having fun with his new powers but learns that with "great power comes great responsibility".

Conversely, Osborn descends into insanity and becomes the villainous Green Goblin.

Tobey Maguire does a good job keeping Peter Parker a bit geeky, as Christopher Reeve did so brilliantly with Clark Kent in Superman.

Willem Dafoe is also impressive as the Green Goblin, giving the character a Jekyl and Hyde theme rather just some guy who's plain evil, for the sake of it.

But the best performance is given by JK Simmons who brings newspaper editor J Jonah Jameson to life perfectly, in every detail, even down to the hair.

There are a few cheesy scenes and gags that make the film lose its edge, but when the humour is kept firmly tongue in cheek then it works.

Visual effects are pretty impressive. But you can still tell when Tobey Maguire is replaced by a computer-generated stunt double.

This device has also been used in Star Wars and Harry Potter. But no matter how sophisticated the software, it's still noticeable, like Harry Harrusen's stop motion animation monsters in films like Jason and the Argonauts.

The ending's unexpectedly good, even if it does leave the door wide open for a sequel, which we can expect to see in 2004.

Hopefully, Spider-Man 2 will meet the high standard set by the original.