I took my oldest boy for our Spider-Man ritual on Saturday. I have been mostly pleased with the franchise and how family friendly the movies are. They’re not perfect, but they do stay away from the other indiscretions other super-heroes stumble into. Peter and M.J. have lots of tension in their relationship but that’s about as far as it goes. Language is again "mostly" clean. I count only one vulgarity - an amazing accomplishment for most movies today.

But they are violent.

Let’s face it: Spidey beats up bad guys. The good news is that there’s no Blood and Guts spewing all over the place. Brue Campbell may be here but this is no Evil Dead (the most disgusting movie I’ve ever seen).

Most everyone knows by now that we see Venom, Sandman, and Harry Osborn as the New Goblin - I hope I’m not spoiling anything for you. This time we see more of the interaction of people: Harry & Peter, for example. The comic storyline is faithfully followed, just incredibly shortened as is Eddie Brock & Venom. Although I enjoy Spider-Man movies I really wish they would make them about 8 hours long and follow the comics a little better. But I’m probably the only one. All in all, I am very satisfied with the movie versions. The changes made for the movie on character backgrounds are always tough calls, but fit the abridged storylines well.

There’s lots of good web-slinging action in the third movie. I love the CGI bits and could watch Spidey swinging around New York for hours. The first fight is almost too much, though. It happens so fast that everything really doesn’t register. One scene looks as though it came directly from the video game which seemed a little weak to me.

And yes, there’s a great big American Flag backdrop for Spider-Man near the end.

"Dark" Peter Parker is hysterical. Watch the expressions of the people around him. I’m not a big Tobey Maguire fan, but he really does make a good Parker.

The ending is a bit of a tear jerker for several reasons. There’s a huge problem with Spider-Man enemies in the films: They all die. Or at least it’s left as though they die. Norman Osborn I expect, but not Doc Ock (see Spider-Man 2)! Maybe Spider-Man 4 will bring back Norman. Who knows?

My boy is turning 12 soon so he’s entering that stage stoic stage. "It was good" was his answer to my questioning him on the movie. I’m afraid he won’t be much help. Trust me, though. If you enjoyed the first two movies you’ll like this one.