Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse review

SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE:

SPIDEY'S FIRST ANIMATED FEATURE OUTING IS QUITE POSSIBLY THE BEST SPIDER-MAN MOVIE EVER!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: **** out of 4

COLUMBIA PICTURES, SONY PICTURES ANIMATION, AND MARVEL

(From left to right) Spider-Noir, Spider-Ham, Spider-Gwen, Peter B. Parker/Spider-Man, Miles Morales/Spider-Man, and Peni Parker/SP//dr in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

            The world (or worlds I should say) of the beloved Marvel Comics superhero, Spider-Man comes to the screen in animated form in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Not only does this mark Marvel’s first animated movie to be released theatrically aside from Big Hero 6 but it’s also the first Spider-Man movie from Sony Pictures Animation as well as the first theatrical movie with Miles Morales as Spider-Man (Seriously, how many Peter Parkers do we need?).

            Sony’s animated movies have been hit-or-miss for me in the past, most of them ranged from good at best to flat out horrendous at worst (I’m looking at you Emoji Movie!). Heck, even their live-action Spider-Man movies are hit-or-miss, the first two Tobey Maguire Spider-Man films, The Amazing Spider-Man, and last year’s Spider-Man: Homecoming are solid and entertaining movies, whereas Spider-Man 3, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and Venom, might as well count that…not so much.

            It’s probably the first Sony Pictures Animation project that I was legitimately excited for, the animation and art design looked stunning and resembled Spidey’s comic book roots and for once Peter Parker is not the protagonist. I was curious and enthusiastic to see how they bring Miles Morales and all these other absurd Spider-People to the big-screen.

            Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse did not live up to my expectations…it surpassed them, I don’t think I’ve had this much fun watching a Spider-Man movie since Spider-Man 2 back in 2004. The film is produced by Lego Movie directors, Phil Lord and Chris Miller and much like that movie it’s filled to the brim with nostalgic references to Spider-Man whether comics, movies, TV shows, and even a so-so Popsicle, but what’s really nice is that you don’t need to have seen or read other Spider-Man material to enjoy this film.

            The film follows Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore-Incredible Crew, The Get Down, Dope), a teenager who admires Spider-Man, trying to adjust to his new boarding school and live up to the expectations of his parents, nurse Rio Morales (voiced by Lauren Vélez-Dexter, Oz, Ugly Betty) and officer Jefferson Davis (voiced by Brian Tyree Henry-Atlanta, Widows, If Beale Street Could Talk). After the death of Peter Parker/Spider-Man (voiced by Chris Pine-Star Trek (2009 trilogy), People Like Us, Wonder Woman) caused by the ruthless crime lord, Kingpin (voiced by Liev Schreiber-Scream 1-3, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Salt), Miles gets bitten by a radioactive spider and gains spider-like abilities.

            While he tries to adapt to these new powers, Miles learns that other Spider-Man universes exist, and Kingpin has built a particle accelerator to access parallel dimensions. The machine codenamed the Super Collider, brings Peter B. Parker (voiced by Jake Johnson-New Girl, Safety Not Guaranteed, Jurassic World), a Spider-Man from a different dimension into Miles’ universe where he reluctantly becomes his mentor and teaches him how to be Spider-Man.

            As Peter trains Miles to become Spider-Man, they befriend a colorful cast of Spider-Heroes from other dimensions such as Gwen Stacy/Spider-Gwen (voiced by Hailee Steinfeld-True Grit (2010), Pitch Perfect 2 and 3, Bumblebee), a dark and monochromic Spider-Man known as Spider-Man Noir (voiced by Nicolas Cage-Face/Off, National Treasure 1 and 2, Teen Titans Go! To the Movies; who already portrayed a Marvel superhero before in both Ghost Rider movies), a young Japanese girl from an anime universe named Peni Parker (voiced by Kimiko Glenn-Orange is the New Black, BoJack Horseman, Voltron: Legendary Defendor) and her giant robot, SP//dr, and a talking, cartoon Spider-Pig not previously owned by Homer Simpson, Peter Porker/Spider-Ham (voiced by John Mulaney-Saturday Night Live, Kroll Show, Big Mouth) who join together to help Miles become the Spider-Man of his dimension. Miles must take a leap of faith and turn into Spider-Man to help his new friends stop Kingpin’s collider from destroying their worlds and get them back home.

            The film also features the voices of Mahershala Ali (Moonlight, Luke Cage, Green Book) as Aaron Davis, Lily Tomlin (Nashville, I Heart Huckabees, Grace and Frankie) as Aunt May, Kathryn Hahn (Transparent, Bad Moms 1 and 2, Captain Fantastic) as Dr. Olivia Octavius/Doc Ock, Zoe Kravitz (Mad Max: Fury Road, The Lego Batman Movie, Fantastic Beasts 1 and 2) as Mary Jane Watson, Lake Bell (Boston Legal, Million Dollar Arm, The Secret Life of Pets) as Vanessa Fisk, Jorma Taccone (The Lonely Island, MacGruber, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping) as Green Goblin, and rapper, Krondon (Harry’s Law, Black Lightning) as Lonnie Lincoln.

            Overall, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is certainly one of the most original comic book movies released in years, and despite a more family-friendly tone compared to other Spider-Man movies, it cranks up the fan-service and delivers everything that makes a great superhero/comic book movie. It’s probably the first time a comic book movie actually LOOKS like a comic book movie, the animation, art design, and even a lot of the visual jokes makes you feel like you’re watching a computer-animated comic book, the animation reminded me of the Spider-Man: The New Animated Series MTV show from 2003 at times. 

            But even if you don’t read comics or aren’t familiar with the Spider-Man characters, you can still follow it and enjoy it as a standalone movie. I was invested in Miles Morales as a character and wanted to see him become Spider-Man while also getting along with his family and fitting in at school, in my opinion out of all the previous Spider-Man movies, this is the one with the most heart.

            An extremely minor nitpick I have is that while most of the focus should be on Miles and Peter, there’s not a whole lot of development with the other Spider-Man characters. Besides Gwen Stacy, the other Spider-People don’t really interact with each other that much, but the moments they do have together are very strong and often hilarious.

            Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse not only follows in the footsteps of Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man: Homecoming as one of the best Spider-Man movies of all time, but it might have finally dethroned Spider-Man 2 as the best by far. It’s gorgeously animated, packed with flashy superhero action, clever storytelling, and laughs, whether a die-hard fan, newcomer, or looking for a fun family outing, swing on in and see for yourself.