Phew, Spidey 3 is no B&R . . .

Remember, the one where Arnie looks like a deep-frozen cyberman, Uma Thurman hissed her way through a jungle of poison ivy, and the producers forgot to write a script for poor old gorgeous George Clooney.

They used the theory that more is more - presumably expecting that more baddies, more colour, and more noise would take the series to new heights.

It was terrible, and nearly killed the dark knight's cinematic future for ever.

So when I heard that Sam Raimi was planning a similarly grandiose approach for the new Spider-Man 3 adventure - four bad guys for Spidey to wrestle with and a bank-busting special effects budget - I was a little worried.

This, after all, is in my mind the best super hero series ever to hit our cinema screens, blending action and emotion in just the right measures to create a fabulous escapist potion.

I needn't have worried too much. Yes, Spider-Man 3 is the weakest in the series so far, but it still deserves top marks for ambition, and a B-double-plus for family entertainment.

The parting words of Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst) to Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) at the conclusion of Spider-Man 2 – "Go get 'em tiger!" – set the scene nicely for this chapter, in which the geeky photographer prepares to propose to his sweetheart.

Before doing so, however, he wants to repair the strained relations with best pal Harry Osborn (James Franco), who still blames Spidey for the death of his scientist father, The Green Goblin, in the first picture.

"I need to explain things," Peter pleads. "Tell my father! Raise him from the dead!" seethes Harry, who is having none of it.

Spiderman's attentions are soon elsewhere, as escaped convict Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church) blunders into a particle physics test site, falls into a giant vat of sand, morphs into the shape-shifting Sandman, and starts terrorising New York.

And adding to Peter's woes, a black substance from a mysterious crashed meteorite fuses with his Spider-Man suit, turning the spandex black and unleashing a dark, vengeful side of his personality.

When Peter tries to escape the black goo's intoxicating power, he unwittingly infects a rival Daily Bugle photographer, and another snarling adversary named Venom is born.

Much like our superhero himself, this film suffers from split personality disorder.

One minute it's dark and moody, the next it's almost cheesily comical. But amidst all the chaos and carnage, there's plenty of fun to be had on this colourful 139-minute rollercoaster ride.

Tying together all the loose threads from the first two films, introducing two new villains, delivering a blitzkreig of action and amazing effects and maintaining our emotional connection with the characters is no mean feat. And it's a task which the movie only manages to achieve by the skin of its teeth.

Maguire has grown noticeably more comfortable with the role, and sparks some good chemistry with Dunst, but Franco's powerful performance as a young man filled with rage and confusion is the dominant performance. He's supported ably by JK Simmons as the caricature newspaper editor who gets most of the best laughs.

There are some odd interludes too – a pointless comedy dance sequence which morphs Peter Parker into an embarrassing cross between John Travolta and Mr Bean sits uncomfortably, and the addition of a plummy British TV reporter threatens to derail the somewhat underwhelming climactic battle.

Please don't take the view that us journalists are really that vacant . . . believe what you read in the papers, not what you see on the big screen!!!

• Carl Jones is the Shropshire Star's Movie Blogger. Comment on his blog in the box below.