Caught an early showing of the new Marvel animated film Spider-man: Into the Spider-Verse. This is not in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and is not directly related to the recent Spiderman: Homecoming (though it could be due to the introduction of the multiverse). The film releases next week I think and is well worth seeing. There were plenty of open seats last night unlike a random early screening of the Bumblebee Transformers movie tonight which is sold out. In other words, I worry the Spider-Man movie won’t do well so you should go see it. Because it’s really good.
This new animated Spider-Man film focuses on Mile Morales, the Afro-Cuban teenage Spider-Man who webslings alongside Peter Parker in the comics. It’s somewhat curious they don’t make a live action Miles Morales movies and you could make accusations as to why but it probably comes down to making a very expensive movie and making sure Peter Parker, the Spider-Man most people know, is the star. Well, if the wild and brightly-colored experimentation of this film is any indication, I’m glad it’s not live action since few overpriced live action flicks would allow this much experimentation without a lot of studio meddling.
So, in this flick, Miles Morales is a teenager who admires Spider-Man who has been fighting crime for well over a decade. Miles gets (and this is repeated a lot in this film) bitten by a radioactive spider and you know the rest. The Kingpin, meanwhile, is working on a particle collider under Brooklyn for his own reasons which accidentally pulls in a host of other Spider-People from alternate realities. They have to group together to get back home while Miles has to learn how to use his powers and how to connect with his parents (and save Brooklyn).
This is an immensely enjoyable, immensely funny, and overall very good film. It is so energetic and experimental with its imagery, use of colors, animation style, and ideas. The animation is unique… it feels slightly sped-up and missing frames… kind of a pop-infused comic book CGI hand-drawn claymation style. It uses the comic book dot-coloring throughout and, after Miles gets bitten, it introduces thought-bubbles that they work diegetically into the film. The editing is super fast while being fun and understandable. I really enjoyed the feel of the film and the humor that gently mocks itself and superhero flicks while also fully embracing the tropes.
To be fair, the end of the film – the big action set piece – was only just good. It’s a little too loud and chaotic to really nail the landing so that was a bit of a letdown for an otherwise very enjoyable film.
While it seems on the face to be a bit odd that a Miles Morales spiderman film has to bring in five other spider-people, the film is convincingly focused on this being a Miles story. He gets the lion’s share of the emotional beats between himself and his parents and with his own uncertain control of his powers. There’s real genuine family drama and pathos in the flick and the emotions are earned.
And there’s a Stan Lee cameo that works all the better today than it might have a few sad weeks ago. And a good attribution to him in the mid-credits scene.
So, yeah, this is a wonderfully inventive movie that isn’t always at its best but it’s always good. It’s probably the best Spiderman film since the 2nd Toby McGuire one and some reviewers are saying its even better than that. I think if it had nailed the ending, they’d be right. But that doesn’t mean it’s not pretty great. And it basically establishes a Spider-Man multiverse where they can keep making these animated films with different characters. I want to see Spider-Gwen… and maybe that Japanese mecha magical girl one.
Score: 86