Into The Spider-Verse is a truly outstanding film on many levels, especially in an era of bog-standard, lazy 3D CGI movies, and sets the new standard for what can be done with the medium - not just for superhero movies, but any and all stories.
First off, you can tell the people involved in this movie not only deeply care about the Spider-Man mythos, but are also fans of the character, and as such are more than willing to make cheeky nods to the hilariously off-kilter moments of the franchise in addition to the well-known and cool stuff (the MacGuire dance, anyone?) - The Stinger in particular had me dying of laughter. On top of that, much like the MCU forgoing a third adaptation of Peter's iconic backstory, Spider-Verse slims down the histories of each of its protagonists (aside from Miles himself) into two minute-long, fast-paced recaps that clearly differentiate the Spiders from each other while also providing lots of laughs and keeping the pacing up. The protagonists themselves are great - Miles is a relatable fresh face of a teenager trying to figure out his life and his new powers, Spider-Prime is (to my knowledge) the first blonde Peter Parker and pretty much The Ace of the entire cast, Spider-Noir is the Nicolas Cage role we deserve, etc. - and the villains are also solid, even if only Kingpin and two of his henchmen (won't spoil who since they're both twists) get significant screentime and characterization. The story itself doesn't revolutionize the coming-of-age storyline, but the characters involved make it as compelling as any all the same. And as for the action, well, it's up there with Incredibles 2 as having some of the most creative fight scenes ever put to film, both content- and visual-wise.
Speaking of visuals, this movie is fucking GORGEOUS at all levels - color palettes, cinematography, scene transitions, stylistic choices, you name it, Spider-Verse pulls it off with uniqueness and aplomb. I've held for a while now that Avengers: Infinity War is the most comic book-feeling movie due to how it brings so many characters together so easily and casually like, well, the comic books do...but Spider-Verse is easily the most comic book-LOOKING movie. I didn't think it was possible to effectively bring that medium to animation, but this film proved me dead wrong. Even if you're somehow not interested in what's happening on screen at any given moment, the look of the film blows almost all the other 3D CGI crap released in the last decade out of the water (excluding good stuff like The Incredibles ofc) and, as said above, really demonstrates that this medium has so much more potential than is displayed year after year.
Conclusion: if you're not into Spider-Man, this movie will get you into Spider-Man. If you ARE into Spider-Man, this is your childhood brought to life. Cherish it. Buy more tickets for it. GET ME SEQUELS TO SPIDER-MAN!
One Of The Best Animated Movies Ever
Into The Spider-Verse is a truly outstanding film on many levels, especially in an era of bog-standard, lazy 3D CGI movies, and sets the new standard for what can be done with the medium - not just for superhero movies, but any and all stories.
First off, you can tell the people involved in this movie not only deeply care about the Spider-Man mythos, but are also fans of the character, and as such are more than willing to make cheeky nods to the hilariously off-kilter moments of the franchise in addition to the well-known and cool stuff (the MacGuire dance, anyone?) - The Stinger in particular had me dying of laughter. On top of that, much like the MCU forgoing a third adaptation of Peter's iconic backstory, Spider-Verse slims down the histories of each of its protagonists (aside from Miles himself) into two minute-long, fast-paced recaps that clearly differentiate the Spiders from each other while also providing lots of laughs and keeping the pacing up. The protagonists themselves are great - Miles is a relatable fresh face of a teenager trying to figure out his life and his new powers, Spider-Prime is (to my knowledge) the first blonde Peter Parker and pretty much The Ace of the entire cast, Spider-Noir is the Nicolas Cage role we deserve, etc. - and the villains are also solid, even if only Kingpin and two of his henchmen (won't spoil who since they're both twists) get significant screentime and characterization. The story itself doesn't revolutionize the coming-of-age storyline, but the characters involved make it as compelling as any all the same. And as for the action, well, it's up there with Incredibles 2 as having some of the most creative fight scenes ever put to film, both content- and visual-wise.
Speaking of visuals, this movie is fucking GORGEOUS at all levels - color palettes, cinematography, scene transitions, stylistic choices, you name it, Spider-Verse pulls it off with uniqueness and aplomb. I've held for a while now that Avengers: Infinity War is the most comic book-feeling movie due to how it brings so many characters together so easily and casually like, well, the comic books do...but Spider-Verse is easily the most comic book-LOOKING movie. I didn't think it was possible to effectively bring that medium to animation, but this film proved me dead wrong. Even if you're somehow not interested in what's happening on screen at any given moment, the look of the film blows almost all the other 3D CGI crap released in the last decade out of the water (excluding good stuff like The Incredibles ofc) and, as said above, really demonstrates that this medium has so much more potential than is displayed year after year.
Conclusion: if you're not into Spider-Man, this movie will get you into Spider-Man. If you ARE into Spider-Man, this is your childhood brought to life. Cherish it. Buy more tickets for it. GET ME SEQUELS TO SPIDER-MAN!