'Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man' Review: More, Please, and Thank You
Marvel's polite new animated series, now on Disney Plus, takes Peter Parker in a new direction.
Now Streaming: Harkening back to an earlier era -- kinda like X-Men '97 -- yet decidedly modern in its setting and technology, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is the latest animated entry in the ever-increasing Marvel Universe.
Debuting on Disney Plus, the series kicks off musically with direct quotes from the iconic theme song for the original animated show, Spider-Man (1967) -- something that Sam Raimi's Spider-Man (2002) included in its closing credits -- before plunging into the multicultural world of today's Queens, New York. Introducing Peter Parker as a fledgling super-hero, with the ability to spin webs organically with far greater power than ordinary spiders, the new show surrounds him with a supporting cast that features a couple familiar names -- Aunt May and Norman Osborne -- along with characters who are less immediately familiar.
The original 1967 show introduced my generation to Peter Parker, Spider-Man, the theme song, and the catch phrase "Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man." Because of his name, I considered Peter Parker to be my superhero, an otherwise insecure, skinny kid with great powers. (I will be humming that theme song throughout all eternity.) I watched the show faithfully on our 13-inch black-and-white television and bought Spider-Man comic books whenever I had a spare quarter available, which wasn't very often.
Created by Jeff Tramell distinguishes the new show from the previous nine animated series that preceded it by setting the show in an alternate timeline. After Peter Parker (voiced by Hudson Thames) gets bitten by a spider in the opening sequence, we flash forward a bit to his freshman years in high school.
Peter lives with his widowed Aunt May (Kari Walhgren) and attends school with his best friend Nico (Grace Song). He yearns for his slighter older schoolmate Pearl (Cathy Ang), but before he can ask out his one-time babysitter, she becomes entangled with football star Lonnie (Eugene Byrd). As it turns out, Lonnie is super-friendly with Peter and asks for his help with schoolwork.
Meanwhile, Peter's heroic inclinations lead him to help a young man under attack from bullies; the young man is Harry Osborn (Zeno Robinson). The first episode concludes with the introduction of Norman Osborn (Colman Domingo), who offers Peter an internship at his company, which occupies the second episode.
The first two episodes pass by briskly and pleasantly, even though it doesn't feel like anything momentous is in the offing. As to the animation, reportedly, "the 3D cel-shaded animation pays homage to the art style of early The Amazing Spider-Man comic books by Steve Ditko and John Romita Sr., with animation provided by Polygon Pictures and CGCG, Inc."
From the teaser trailer alone, I wasn't certain what to expect of yet another off-shoot from Marvel, but the show feels less indebted to the past than X-Man '97, and much more sprightly. I'm also quite intrigued by the presence of Colman Domingo, an Academy Award nominee for Sing Sing, who bolsters the solid voice cast with his ability to slide between warm humanity and cold menace.
The show's approach offers up a few very familiar characters, mixed in with new (to me) characters. And, in harmony with its title, the action feels very friendly, eschewing hostile intentions and putting the emphasis on protecting the neighborhood from troubles both within and without. Recommended. [Disney Plus]