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2018 has been a great year for Spider-Man; coming off of the very enjoyable Spider-Man Homecoming in 2017, this year followed with a wonderful and teary appearance by the character in Infinity War, an excellent game on the PlayStation 4, and now finally at the end of the year one last treat for Spider-Man fans. Into The Spider-Verse is a fantastic film that I highly recommend you go see if you are a fan of: Spider-Man, Superheroes, Comics in general, or animation.
Not only is it a great film in its own right, it’s also the most visually stunning animated film I’ve ever seen, nothing really looks like it, and it perfectly captures the colorful comic book aesthetic that the characters were born from. It’s clear that the filmmakers love not only Spider-Man, but also the medium of animation as a whole, as this film acts as a love letter to both. The movie is animated in a mix of 2-D and 3-D overall, but in addition to that it also features three characters who are animated in completely different styles from everyone else, those being Spider-Man Noir in a very muted black and white aesthetic, Spider-Ham, a talking cartoon pig paying homage to classic cartons like Looney Toons, and Penni Parker, a very noticeable send-up to anime, particularly of the Mecha genre.
Being a fan of animation alone is enough of reason to go see this film, as the whole film is so unique, and in addition to that there are many fun little things to notice with the three additional spider-people in their animation.
The soundtrack in this film is great and I’ve been listening to it constantly since my first viewing of the film, the music feels natural and fits perfectly with the films visuals in a very peanut-butter and chocolate kind of way. The story is very well paced, as the movie’s near Two Hour length isn’t really felt, and it’s filled with plenty of twists and turns, enjoyable character interaction, and its fair share of heartbreak. The main villain and his motivation were believable and I enjoyed his portrayal in this movie, and the all the rest of the villains were pretty enjoyable, although a few of them didn’t get much screen time or lines, although ultimately that isn’t too much of an issue.
The cast in this film all felt perfect for their roles and play off of each other excellently and really make their characters take shape and come to life, on both the hero and villain’s sides. Although it’s kind of an easy pick, my favorites in this film were Shameik Moore as Miles Morales and Jake Johnson as Peter Parker, both of them really felt like the characters they were playing and gave very excellent and nuanced performances. I’ve seen the film three times, and it’s gotten a bit better with each viewing, the first two viewings were in 2-D and the third was reluctantly in 3-D, although I’m happy to report that the film actually looked really good in 3-D, although if you have problems with that sort of thing I would definitely recommend opting for 2-D. I encourage everyone to see this movie and to get other people to see it as well as it certainly deserves all the attention it can get, and if you do, make sure to stay till after the credits.
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