Critics welcome Spider-Man homecoming with open arms and a whole lot of praise

Spider-Man is back and he's keeping things fresh as hell. The MCU's latest installment in the classic superhero franchise, Spider-Man: Homecoming, departs from the traditional narrative in an unexpected way, brilliantly distinguishing itself from the crowd.

Take a look at what some other critics are saying about the unique portrayal of Parker's life:

Jim Vejvoda, IGN:

If you weren’t already sold on him after Civil War, his turn in Homecoming proves that Tom Holland is the definitive big screen Spider-Man. His exuberance, intelligence, and good-natured manner perfectly captures Peter Parker’s youthfulness, earnestness and moral center. Peter screws up a lot, but he’s a good kid who knows when he has to set things right and Holland sells all of that. He owns every scene he’s in, never getting blown off the screen by his co-stars, which include such formidable personalities as Robert Downey Jr. and Michael Keaton.

John DeFore, The Hollywood Reporter:

Where Garfield's Peter Parker displayed a believable 21st-century angst, we return largely to the character's wide-eyed roots with Tom Holland, whose performance is thoroughly winning even when the script isn't helping him. 

Susana Polo, Polygon:

Many reviews of Captain America: Civil War highlighted Tom Holland’s debut turn as the webslinger among the movie’s bright points. Here, he is given the chance to deepen and broaden the character — among Peter’s friends, family and on his home turf — and he does not disappoint. 

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone:

News Flash: Tom Holland is the best movie Spider-Man ever. He finds the kid inside the famous red onesie and brings out the kid in even the most hardened filmgoer.

The rest of the cast

Jim Vejvoda, IGN:

In Homecoming, Peter, still consumed by the excitement of his adventure with the Avengers in Captain America: Civil War, wants nothing more than to win Tony Stark’s approval and become a full-fledged Avenger. But Peter is still just a kid and he will have to realize that he can’t let Spider-Man define who he is; as Tony admonishes him at one point, if he’s nothing without the suit then Peter doesn’t deserve to have it. 

Owen Gleiberman, Variety:

The villain, played by Michael Keaton, is very much an adult. His name is Adrian Toomes, and he’s a disgruntled city contractor who, in the film’s 90 token seconds of “topicality,” decides to act out his rage against the elite members of a stacked-deck system by hawking a stolen cache of alien weapons on the black market. 

John DeFore, The Hollywood Reporter:

Holland's Peter enters the film with superpowers intact (get your origin-story kicks elsewhere, kids), shooting an "I can't believe this is happening" video diary of the events we saw in Captain America: Civil War. After strutting his stuff in that battle, Peter rightly expects to be joining the Avengers. Instead, he's given something like the brush-off by Robert Downey Jr.'s Stark: The industrialist gives him a multimillion-dollar outfit full of electronics, makes his flunky Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) Peter's "point guy," and essentially says, "Don't call us, we'll call you."

Matt Singer, Screencrush:

If Spider-Man: Homecoming commits one major sin it’s overcrowding: I just spent two long paragraphs describing the plot and didn’t even mention Peter’s Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) or his school bully Flash Thompson (Tony Revolori) or his quirky decathlon coach (Martin Starr) or Michelle, a particularly droll and disinterested member of the school’s decathlon team played with dry wit and impressive comic timing by Zendaya. The problem isn’t that any of these characters are bad; the problem is most of them are terrific and Homecoming, which runs a brisk 133 minutes, doesn’t have enough room for all of them.