Moviefone is tracking the buzz on Spider-Man 3 with their Blog Beat: The Buzz on ‘Spider-Man 3′ feature, with excerpts and links to a variety of reviews and commentary, including my own! (#13, my favorite number! Sweet!)

Among the wide-ranging mix is Dark Horizons’ Garth Franklin (#7), who offers an interesting assessment of the primary actors that, in retrospect, I kind of agree with:

“Tobey Maguire displays a surprising lack of growth in the role, playing him with little difference from the way he did in the first film — this is despite the events of the first two films and his general experience as an actor. [Kirsten] Dunst, and more notably Franco, show distinct improvement in the way they handle their roles — in fact their scenes together ring with more genuine appeal than any of the tedious domestic squabbles that Maguire and Dunst’s scenes together devolve into.”

I criticized Dunst in my review, particularly noting the lack of chemistry between her and Maguire, but Franklin is right on here because her scenes with Franco did have a bit more pop to them, though I attribute that more to Franco’s acting ability, which really shines through in this installment.

Meanwhile, Maguire continues with his wide-eyed, “Gee whiz, I’m a superhero who used to be a dork!” take on the character that Peter Parker really should have grown beyond by now. Some of the blame for that should be shared with Raimi, of course, and you have to wonder if it’s one of the side effects of his arguably trying to squeeze too much into the movie.