This is a 100% positive review. Just so you know. It’s all good.
I loved Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. If you’re a fan of Spider-Man comics, and you went to see this movie and you walked out thinking that maybe it wasn’t that good, then I want you to email me, Tyer@canbyfirst.com and let’s talk about it. Let’s have a rational, adult conversation about why this animated superhero film is the best Spider-Man film to date.
This story is pretty simple… A portal opens up in New York and several different universes come crashing together. We see the origin of a Spider-Man named Miles Morales, after he sneaks out with his uncle to, work on his creative endeavors and gets bit by a radioactive spider.
He then meets Peter Parker and gets the chance to see what he can become, but all goes kaput when the portal machine explodes and several different spider… people? Spider… heroes? come to Miles’ universe.
Miles then starts to work with a Peter Parker that is… well… he’s a little more… chubby than the Peter that Miles had originally met. And in time they meet up with Spider-Woman (Spider Gwen!) from a universe where Peter became a bad guy and his girlfriend got bit by the spider. There’s also Spider Ham, and Spider-Girl from a anime looking world, as well as Noir Spider-man, voiced by Nicolas Cage… so the best one in the movie.
The movie has them trying to teach Miles his new powers, while looking for a way back to their own universes. Seriously, not that complicated… I mean, kinda complicated… but still amazing!
I have seen people say that this is a faithful adaptation to the original source material, but I would completely disagree. This takes some material from the Ultimate Spider-Man, then injects it into the Spider-Verse comic book and shakes that up with the Spider-Men story from 2012. You take that and have it bite the Sony animation team, and you get this super heroic story that has absolut eoriginality with trappings of a classic Spider-Man story.
The animation is beautiful, it’s weird and just a little off putting. But in a way that makes you want to watch more, and by the time you mind has a chance to get use to it, you see something that challenges your brain just a little more. It’s smooth and fluid with odd jumps and reactions that make you feel like you really are peering into a new universe, that is like our but different…
With voice work that mixes perfectly, and a soundtrack that makes you feel the moment, along with villains that are both recognizable and far from what we’re use to, this movie has everything it needs to be fun and familiar along with new and exciting.
On top of which is the underlying Spider-Man story that runs through the entirety of this film. A story of uncertainty and hope. The themes of Spider-Man have always been sacrifice for the betterment of the world. Putting others above yourself and being a good person because that’s what we’re all called to be.
It’s not about being a mutated person who has cool powers, though that’s what draws us in. Spider-Man is about seeing the pain of the world and being brave enough to stand up to it, no matter the consequences
Photo courtesy Sony Pictures Animation.