The Schumachering of Sam Raimi continues: "Spider-Man 3"

A little harsh, perhaps. But sadly, the franchise is going more this direction than the way of such excellent fare as "Batman Begins."

I went to the third installment of the webslinger chronicles with mixed emotions. Even before the mediocre reviews, I was having a hard time believing "3" could live up to the hype and build on a solid first two movies. Tobey and Kirsten getting older, that guy from "Freaks and Geeks" still hanging around and more villains than I can count ... it sounded like a lot of stuff to manage, and I wasn't sure our man Sam could pull it off.

Our story opens with Spidey (Maguire) as the toast of New York. Everyone loves the guy, including his best girl, Mary Jane Watson (Dunst). Things couldn't be better for Peter Parker, and he's even going to ask MJ to marry him! Yay! Oh, wait ... I'm sick of this storyline. Never mind.

Meanwhile, nefarious things are afoot. A guy named Flint Marko has broken out of jail, and it turns out he was the guy who killed Uncle Ben and stole his rice ... er, car. Before the cops can get him, though, Marko falls into some scientific thingamajig and becomes a creature made of sand. I hate it when that happens.

Meanwhile -- yes, another meanwhile -- a meteor has crashed to the earth, bringing with it some strange alien goo. Whose moped should the goo attach itself to but that of one Peter Parker. What a coincidence.

As all this is happening -- that's another way of saying "meanwhile" -- Mary Jane is having a hard time on Broadway, which is making things hard between her and Peter. So is his flirtation with Gwen Stacy, the comely student in his science class who unfortunately has some wide calves. Oh, and I forgot to mention that their pal Harry Osborn (James Franco) is still around, first trying to kill Spider-Man -- he thinks the webhead killed his dad, the Green Goblin, remember -- then being his best bud after some short-term amnesia.

Still with me? Yeah, it's a lot to keep track of. And that's a problem. Not a big one, but a problem all the same, and it had me thinking of the last two Batman movies -- with all the villains, sidekicks and general chaos -- more than once.

There are some things to like, of course. The effects are solid, maybe the best ever. Some great action, too, from start to finish. I lost count, but there are enough fun-filled scenes to keep things from dragging too much. I also actually thought Franco was the best he's been in the series, given the chance to play multiple personalities and pulling them off reasonably well. He's also prominent in a twist that works well enough.

As for other players, Thomas Haden Church as the Sandman is solid, and Topher Grace is fun as Eddie Brock, the photographer who usurps poor Peter at the Daily Bugle. The always entertaining J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson and the legendary Bruce Campbell as the maitre'd at a French restaurant make the most of their short screen time.

Now, the not-so-good stuff.

Let's start with all the crap crammed into this movie. Really, it was just too much, and Raimi and Co. might have wanted to save one of the villains for another movie, and maybe cut the romance stuff a bit. I know, I know ... doing that might have made it seem unrealistic. But hey, this is based on a comic book, and like I said, I'm tired of this business. But again, there's just too much. Check out the various plot summaries if you don't believe me. (The last one kills me -- look at how long it is! -- but don't read if you don't want to see any spoilers.)

In addition, the Sandman is too sympathetic. Nice to give him some depth, but it makes it hard to root against him when Spidey wants him dead. Lastly, there's a decent chunk of the movie devoted to how the alien goo brings out the nasty side of Peter Parker's personality, and it largely fails. I mean, even if played for laughs, it's hard to watch Peter playing the cool dude. A badass as Spidey, sure. A punk as Peter? Um, no. Doesn't help that Maguire looks more miniature than ever while prancing around in street clothes.

So yeah, it all might have been just too much for me, and a little more quality than quantity could have made this as strong an entry as the first two. Then again, even a lacking "Spider-Man" movie is better than most of the superhero junk out there. Yeah, I'm talking to you, Fantastic Four.