Who'd have expected this from the damn Emoji Movie studio?
Miles Morales is a brilliant student with a bit of a slacker side who gets bitten by a radioactive spider and watches Spider-Man die failing to avert the sequence of a dimension-ripping supercollider. As Miles discovers his powers, he meets other Spider-folk ripped from their sections of the multiverse and a team forms to stop the collider from doing more damage.
First of all, this is an animation masterwork. It's the freshest style I've seen in ages, being CGI that successfully co-opts all of the best strengths of 2D animation that 3D largely seems to have forgotten. The style is based on flat, vibrant, dynamic comic books, so the framerates, shading, and visual accents evoke drawings, sound effects, narration bubbles and the like for meta-theming while the film bursts with color and some of the most gorgeous framing and cinematography ever. It's maximalist and hyperactive, but endlessly poppy and beautiful. Few things embody the "every frame a painting" philosophy like this, my god. The character design is also very striking and appealing where this film invents and breaks from the comics the most. Oh, and several characters and shots show different art styles and worlds to emphasize the comic multiverse theme.
The story is good, too. Miles' journey is compared to puberty, but also closeted queerness as he finds a community of people who are different in the same ways...though this latter commentary doesn't scan great to me when applied to a character who appears to be a straight cis boy. The film serves as a nice commentary on reinventing the story and diversity, too, with the thesis of "anyone can wear the mask" being pointedly explored with an Afro-Latino lead. The film always feels gripping and emotionally charged, with serious stakes and darkness being explored and some tragically tense conflicts appearing. If you know Miles from the comics, some twists won't hit as hard as for someone blind like I was, but they still work.
Also, the film's really funny. Physical, verbal, meta, and character gags are everywhere and land well always.
This is a visual feast and a compelling story. The best superhero films are animated...but this is far up there among the best animated superhero films.
A bomb dropped on the industry.
Who'd have expected this from the damn Emoji Movie studio?
Miles Morales is a brilliant student with a bit of a slacker side who gets bitten by a radioactive spider and watches Spider-Man die failing to avert the sequence of a dimension-ripping supercollider. As Miles discovers his powers, he meets other Spider-folk ripped from their sections of the multiverse and a team forms to stop the collider from doing more damage.
First of all, this is an animation masterwork. It's the freshest style I've seen in ages, being CGI that successfully co-opts all of the best strengths of 2D animation that 3D largely seems to have forgotten. The style is based on flat, vibrant, dynamic comic books, so the framerates, shading, and visual accents evoke drawings, sound effects, narration bubbles and the like for meta-theming while the film bursts with color and some of the most gorgeous framing and cinematography ever. It's maximalist and hyperactive, but endlessly poppy and beautiful. Few things embody the "every frame a painting" philosophy like this, my god. The character design is also very striking and appealing where this film invents and breaks from the comics the most. Oh, and several characters and shots show different art styles and worlds to emphasize the comic multiverse theme.
The story is good, too. Miles' journey is compared to puberty, but also closeted queerness as he finds a community of people who are different in the same ways...though this latter commentary doesn't scan great to me when applied to a character who appears to be a straight cis boy. The film serves as a nice commentary on reinventing the story and diversity, too, with the thesis of "anyone can wear the mask" being pointedly explored with an Afro-Latino lead. The film always feels gripping and emotionally charged, with serious stakes and darkness being explored and some tragically tense conflicts appearing. If you know Miles from the comics, some twists won't hit as hard as for someone blind like I was, but they still work.
Also, the film's really funny. Physical, verbal, meta, and character gags are everywhere and land well always.
This is a visual feast and a compelling story. The best superhero films are animated...but this is far up there among the best animated superhero films.