You’ll Love Your Trip Into the Spider-Verse

So I like Spider-Man, a lot. I have played almost every game, owned various toys over the course of my life, and I even cosplay him. And one of my favorite mediums to experience him in is animation. So I had the bar set really high for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and let me tell you … it was an experience! Does it do whatever a spider can, or does it fail to handle its great responsibility to the fans?

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is the story of Miles Morales, the Spider-Man from the now-ended Ultimates comic book line that told an alternate universe story of most Marvel characters. Like the main universe Spider-Man, after being bitten by a radioactive spider in the subway, Miles suddenly develops mysterious powers that transform him into the one and only Spider-Man. When he meets the main universe’s Peter Parker, he soon realizes that there are many others who share his special, high-flying talents. Miles must now use his newfound skills to battle the evil Kingpin, a hulking madman who can open portals to other universes and pull different versions of Spider-Man into Miles’ world.

Holy crap did I have fun with one! I had to restrain myself from nerding out due to the excessive amounts of fan service that this movie offered. I harp on Sony Animation a lot for their tendency to produce the low hanging fruit of the animation world, but after a year that brought us mindless dribble like Peter Rabbit they clearly saved their best for last.

The animation was superb. The static frantic style meshed so seamlessly with the very intentional comic book aesthetic, and made for some intense and heavy blood-pumping fight scenes!

The score and soundtrack were leagues ahead of anything that MCU has doled out in recent years, it made the explosive action scenes seem like a ballet of adrenaline.Directors Peter Ramsey, Bob Persichetti, and Rodney Rothman managed to create a New York that was vibrant, and kinetic. Their work reminds me of why I love animation as medium.

The story is called Into the Spider-Verse, but make no mistake, this is Miles’ story. Borrowing heavily from the Ultimate Spider-Man storyline of his succession to the role of the web slinger, written by Brian Michael Bendis and drawn by Sara Pichelli, we get to see Miles develop from an indifferent high schooler to a true hero.

The voice talent was nothing short of awesome, I absolutely adored Jake Johnson as the older world weary version of Peter Parker, who played the role with the right amount of snark and insecurity that Spider-Man fans know and love. Hailee Steinfeld is my new favorite Spider-Gwen — she captured her very comic book essence and I can’t wait to hear more of her in future Spider-verse spinoffs. John Mulaney, Nicolas Cage, and Kimiko Glenn who played Spider-Ham, Spider-Noir, and Peni Parker respectively were a lot of fun as well. Mahershala Ali, a phenomenal actor in his own right, actually made afraid of The Prowler.

Brian Tyree Henry, Lily Tomlin, and Luna Lauren Velez gave some strong voice over performances as well. But Shameik Moore gave the best performance hands down. He made Miles Morales feel genuine, and for a character this popular, especially in an era where representation in film matters more than ever, that’s so important.

I love this movie, it’s the best superhero movie I have seen in years. It’s action packed, funny, with plenty of drama. I’m going to see it again, most likely in costume.I give Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Sony Pictures Animation; PG; 1 hr, 57 mins ) a 5 out of 5!