DVD REVIEW: The Spectacular Spider Man Volume 3

03/14/09

The Spectacular Spiderman is back, but now he is facing a new and more demanding obstacles yet, this time around he is against two of the most notorious villains in Spiderman history: The Green Goblin and Dr. Octopus. If you thought that the second volume was non stop action, think again in volume III we get twice the action as in the previous two sets combined plus the series tries to make a small transition from single unrelated episodes to a more series like episodes. I thank Sony for releasing volume two and three together since they complement each other nicely, without the extensive waiting period that these DVDs usually take.

In the previous volume our Friendly neighborhood Spiderman was confronted by a new type of villains, and in the last episode he discovered who was behind it all. Now, when he thought he had figure it out, when he knew who his ultimate enemy would be, he is about to learn how wrong he was. In The Spectacular Spiderman “ The Goblin Strikes,” which contains episode 7 through 9 from the hit TV series, tells kind of new version of the origins of two of the most iconic villains of the series. It was fun to see how the writers introduced these characters in a newer and younger version of the wall crawler. It was also nice how the origin of the goblin is related to an issue that is currently taking place in our society, of course in exaggerated proportions. Another highlight of this volume and the previous one is the approach of the writers in connecting the origins of Dr Octopus and The Goblin, which in my opinion was an excellent new idea. However, artistically speaking the new villains in these episodes are by fat the worst I ever seen. their appearance is far away from the classical profile to the point that they might disappoint the fans. The goblin does not look as menacing and frightening as in previous versions, instead he looks more like a prankster. It kind of reminded me somehow, (in a much lower level) to the Joker, and Dr Octopus does not seen quite the evil genius he usually is depicted, instead he is shown more like a nerd who has not caused or purpose for his evil. It is true that this is a much more childish version but at least some basics should have been kept. Animation, Video and sound wise is obvious to say it is the same as the previous volumes, a more kids oriented look with bright colors and dialogues that are kept simple.

Regardless, of the villains appearance, their depiction saved the DVD, the voice actors created almost the same personality that have characterize them for almost four decades, this plus the great depiction of Spiderman personality, humor and moves make each episode better than any other so far, in my opinion they are the most elaborate yet. Each one develops and flow nicely with the amount of time given and unlike in previous episodes its ending is not hastily rushed. Also this volume introduces something new and equally important to the Spiderman series aside the villains, in these episodes Mary Jane Watson makes his day view, complicating Peter’s life a lot more. Over all the Goblin Strikes is the Best Volume yet for three reasons: 1. it has everything the previous volumes had, plus it expands the series more, 2. it concludes by leaving the story open and forecasting what seems to be the next great challenge, and 3. because in my opinion unlike the previous volume it is a DVD that flows either independently or together with the previous DVDs. In other words there is no need for the previous episodes to enjoy these ones. I recommend this DVD for fans of the TV series and the franchise, and in general to any kid or adult who are fan of super heroes series.

VIDEO:
Master in high definition Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1 Ratio

AUDIO:
English 5.1 Dolby Digital, French
Subtitle: French

SPECIAL FEATURES: I have to say that this DVD disappoints in the Special features department. For such amount of material this character has, the production should have put something, nonetheless I rather have nothing than the classical, and boring fillers. For me the episodes are just good enough, and if you are an Spiderman fan you probably have the Special editions of the movies that talks about his mythology and characters.

RATING BREAK DOWN:

FILM REVIEW
VIDEO
AUDIO
BONUS FEATURES

Review By Milo
milo@smartcine.com

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DVD REVIEW: The Spectacular Spider Man Volume 3 03/14/09

DVD REVIEW: The Spectacular Spider Man Volume 3

03/14/09