Showrunner Jeff Trammell swings into action to deliver a fresh and fun take on the origin of everyone’s favorite wall-crawler. After being bitten by a spider from another multiverse, Peter Parker (Hudson Thames) gets taken under the wing of Norman Osborn (Colman Domingo) who mentors him in his early days as a hero. However, if balancing crime-fighting with high school wasn’t bad enough, a growing arms race, supplied by Otto Octavious (Hugh Dancy), brings about high-tech foes who threaten the streets of the Empire State. Through the chaos, Parker must protect his neighborhood and learn the responsibility that comes with his great powers.
While “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man” is a mixed bag when it comes to its animation and plotting, the pros far outweigh the cons because of how well it reinvents this hero’s classic journey.
(Second from Left-R) Pearl Pangan (Cathy Ang), Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Hudson Thames) and Nico Minoru (Grace Song) in Marvel Animation's YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Animation.
To start, an impossible aspect to miss is the show’s animation. The series pops off the screen with a style inspired by the original Stan Lee and Steve Ditko comics – a look that works about 70 percent of the time. It is hard to tell if this show was initially designed to be hand-drawn 2D animation or 3D animation made to replicate the style of a 2D comic strip, but in doing both, it can often struggle to capture the strength of either.
Spider-Man is supposed to zip around the city, the New York skyline be crowded by high-rises and the streets bustling with passersby, but due to the limits of the show’s 60s-style minimalist animation, Spider-Man’s movement can sometimes look sluggish, the skyline barren and the streets void of life. That said, however, the quality vastly improves as the series gets into its latter episodes. Fight scenes become more fluid, the world more vibrant and the general aesthetic quite charming. While the animation eventually evolves into one of the show’s highlights because of its distinct style, at least in the first couple of episodes, it comes across as a bit unpolished and jarring.
An aspect that absolutely works from beginning to end is the way it reinvents the Spider-Man mythos. In animation alone, this character has been done to death. Shows such as the 90s cartoon and “The Spectacular Spider-Man” set a massively high bar that left later attempts like “Spider-Man: The New Animated Series” and Disney XD’s 2017 run without much to add to the conversation. That said, the ways in which “Friendly Neighborhood” simultaneously plays the hits while also introducing new dynamics into Parker’s origin, allows it to stand apart from previous series’. The best example of this is Spider-Man’s amazing friends.
Characters such as Harry Osborn (Zeno Robinson), Gwen Stacey and MJ are always nice, but always play the same predictable roles in Parker’s life. So when the audience gets introduced to Nico Minoru (Grace Song) as Parker’s best friend, it offers up a whole new realm of possibilities because, for those who don’t know, Minoru is a sorcerer and a member of a superhero team called the Runaways. Similarly, Parker and Amadeus Cho (Aleks Le), better known as the Totally Awesome Hulk, are typically not contemporaries, but here, they are. By putting Spider-Man into contact with these other heroes he is often, if not ever, connected to, “Friendly Neighborhood” has the potential to deliver on completely original and unexpected stories in future seasons.
In addition to these colorful new cast members, the familiar friends and foes feel fresh and new as well. Harry Osborn is in the show, but he isn’t in his usual role as Midtown High’s popular kid. Instead, he’s an ill-adjusted social media influencer who has no friends because he’s home-schooled. This adds a new dynamic to their relationship because instead of Harry Osborn bringing Parker along for the ride, Parker is now the one helping Harry Osborn make friends.
In addition to Harry Osborn, his father, Norman Osborn, also receives a reinvention that mostly works – more on that later. Instead of being a straight-up villain, he initially acts as a father figure and mentor to Parker who genuinely wants to help Spider-Man in his efforts. Because “Friendly Neighborhood” was willing to take chances and change the beloved source material, it gives even the most hardcore web-heads a new experience.
However, a few of these reinventions are let down by the plotting. While the story itself in terms of the themes, dynamics and story it tackles is honestly spectacular, in trying to bait-and-switch the audience, it leaves Lonnie Lincoln (Eugene Byrd) and Norman Osborn feeling undeveloped. With Lincoln’s subplot, his joining the 110 to protect his little brother thematically works. Similarly, the “Tombstone” name drop was chilling. However, despite these great moments, his sudden loyalty to the gang comes off as a needed plot beat to turn him into his comic book counterpart, not a logical development for his character.
As for Norman Osborn, while making him Parker’s mentor adds a gripping layer of tragedy to their relationship since fans know how it will end, the series spends too much time trying to trick the audience into believing he might be a good guy that when he suddenly tells Parker to, “stop pulling his punches,” it comes out of nowhere. In the show’s attempt to reimagine these foes into friends only to have them be villains in the end, “Friendly Neighborhood” struggles to deliver both a satisfying reinvention and a classic adaptation of these iconic characters. That said, these changes work and are interesting enough to justify their inclusion.
At the end of it all, “Friendly Neighborhood” might not completely flow with the exaggerated swagger of a kid from Queens, even the missteps are fun additions to a familiar story that provides an entertaining and memorable watch for even the biggest Spider-Man fans.
4/5
Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Hudson Thames) in Marvel Animation's YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN, exclusively on Disney+.
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Featured image courtesy of Marvel Animation
