Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

The last time I was impressed with a computer-animated film trying to replicate traditional hand-drawn art was "The Peanuts Movie". There is a danger in this because sometimes, the focus of a movie can become its look instead of its story. Thankfully, that was not the case this time because I could sense a genuine desire to tell a dramatic story amidst the comedy. Another noteworthy aspects of "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" is the casting. I am betting this animated superhero movie will find a large audience. I can't articulate though exactly why I found the movie to be only moderate instead of great. Maybe I'm just exhausted of this particular superhero but that doesn't make sense because I found myself getting excited by certain moments.

Considering that this is a Spider-Man film, the filmmakers could have really screwed this one up. There are a few common mistakes that comic book movies make and usually it has to do with too much of a good thing. I will be articulating most of these flaws throughout my review in order to show how "Into the Spider-Verse" did not fall prey to them. Sometimes, supporting characters are forced into the movie and they don't contribute to the story. I didn't get a sense of this with "Into the Spider-Verse". Every supporting character had a role, even if it was a small one. For example, Spider-Ham provided comedy while Gwen's femininity played a very important part. I always thought Spider-Pig was an original creation of Homer Simpson but I guess I was wrong. All the Spider people contrasted each other and that creates originality & a strong team. There were a lot of villains in this movie but unlike in "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" they also had a purpose. All the plot twists in this show involved villains and were pretty well thought up. The main plot twist was pretty smart. I did see it coming but not until a few moments before the big reveal. I like how Kingpin is the main opponent and his back-story was very powerful. I was impressed by how even though it was portrayed quickly, it still created such an emotional undertone. In terms of other examples of excess in a superhero movie, the many subplots were juggled well enough and there weren't too many jokes. The comedy and drama were well balanced. I saw no excess of one-liners or exposition. Any product placement was not distracting at all. Another big mistakes that comic book movies fall victim to is rebooting too early after a previous incarnation and retelling an already known origin story. Spider-Man on the big screen is already guilty of this with "The Amazing Spider-Man". Besides that, there have been three theatrical live-action versions of Spider-Man in just the past sixteen years: Toby Maguire, Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland. "Into the Spider-Verse" not only had two versions of Peter Parker but other Spider people from the comic books. Their origin stories thankfully are not only told quickly in this animated movie but the show also subtly acknowledges how many times Spider-Man's origin story has been depicted, creating comedy in the process. Some comic book movies screw up with the costume but that is not the case with Miles Morales' outfit. A big flaw with many comic book movies is not honoring the source material. There is such a thing as the Marvel Comics multiverse and that is the source material this film gleams from. I was first introduced to the "Spider-Verse" when I briefly played the video game "Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions" a while back.

The biggest cinematic element that sets this movie apart not only from other Spider-Man films but also from other superhero movies is the style of its animation. You could pause most of the frames in this film and the still image would look like it was an actual panel from a comic book drawn on a computer. While there is a strong relation to 2D comic art, the animation is obviously still done by computer. Anyways, that doesn't matter because the show still looked great (as if a comic book came to life). Not only did "Into the Spider-Verse" have a unique style of animation but also featured other styles of animation, particularly anime and cartoon-like. Great care had to be taken so that Peni Parker and Peter Porker would contrast the other characters visually but not so much that they would become a distraction either. Things worked out pretty well in this area and that is commendable. That didn't outshine the story though as I found the plot to be worthy of the look of the film. I love for example the plot points involving Uncle Aaron. They provided a great foundation for the story. There are also subtle plot points and lines that are paid off during the climax and I love how well that was done. At first I thought that the character of Gwen Stacy carried a huge plot hole but not really when you listen to her back-story. Most importantly, Miles, Peter B. and Gwen each experience character growth and that meant a lot to me. Miles' journey was obvious considering that his tale is an origin story but it was told sincerely. Peter B. is pretty washed up and he needs a student to turn his life around. Gwen cuts herself off from everyone in her universe but she returns having made a true friend (maybe Miles will become more than just a friend in future films). The character of Miles Morales (since his creation in the comics in 2011) has drawn a wide range of reactions. Some, including Stan Lee, approved while others see it as a PC stunt. It does seem like the world is trying too hard to be politically correct and things can get out of hand because when Stan Lee expressed his desire that the original versions of his characters be respected, he was labeled a racist by some. I haven't read any comic staring Miles but this cinematic version is fun and dramatic. There were a few nods in the film indicating that it was made partially because of a demand for a non-white Spider-Man but this is not the focus of the film.

Yet another characteristic of a comic book movie gone wrong is bad casting. Sometimes, putting a big name in a show like this can ruin the original spirit of the source material. The medium of animation however allows big names to usually hide behind their on screen animated counterparts. Oscar-nominated actress Hailee Steinfeld was very good as Gwen as was Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali in his role as Uncle Aaron. Not only did Nicolas Cage give voice to Superman this year (a dream of his come true) but he gets to be Spider-Man Noir. The type of voice he has is perfect. The filmmakers wanted the original Spider-Man in Miles' universe to be very much like the live action versions we have been seeing from 2002 until now. Chris Pine's brief role as this version of Spider-Man sounded amazing as was Liev Schreiber's performance as Kingpin. "Into the Spider-Verse" contains not one but two Stan Lee cameos. The first one is obvious as the late comic book creator voices one of his last cinematic cameos. The second is when Miles and Peter B. are lying in the crosswalk. I recognized a few other names in the cast list (Oscar Issac has a cameo in the end-credit scene). Producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have given us some entertaining animated films in the past and I applaud their contribution on this show. This movie has three directors but the fact that Phil Lord gave them each a nickname indicates that each person had a specific gift to bring to the project: Peter Ramsey ("the action guy"), Rodney Rothman ("the comedy guy") and Bob Persichetti ("the poet"). As a side note, there may have been problems with the 3D conversion. As I watched this in IMAX, I couldn't tell if a few shots were badly converted to 3D or if it was an artistic choice.

The movie won the Golden Globe and Oscar for Best Animated Feature but I would hope it was because of the story and animation design. That is what I feel makes this movie standout the most. This film I bet will continue the popularity of superhero movies. "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" was the seventh superhero movie of 2018 with one still more to come. "Venom" by the way doesn't count because he is a villain and "Once Upon a Deadpool" is also excluded because it is just a PG version of "Deadpool 2". You would think that eventually this popularity with superheroes movies will die down and someday it might but it is hard to know when because of how vast the comic book universe is. We are truly are seeing the comic industry influencing the film industry when adapting comics. There are multiple versions of any comic book character and this is due to a variety of factors. To name a few, there are different artists with different styles and the tastes of readers change over the years. Because there are many genres in filmmaking (live action, animation) and many styles within those genres (film noir, anime, real-world), the possibilities for these comic book characters on the big screen are as endless as they are on the page. Considering how many characters are in this show, the audience really could have been overwhelmed. I didn't sense that while watching the movie but subconsciously, maybe I am fatigued by how much Spider-Man has been in the media since I hit adulthood. I know that most people will really like this movie nevertheless. A final mistake you see with some comic book films is too much foreshadowing of future films. Once again, the Spider-Man franchise is very guilt of this. Very little foreshadowing for possible sequels however was apparent in this film because of the resolution at the end. The story was focused on the present but it is obvious that Sony Pictures Animation has plans for sequels and spinoffs.

3.5 Stars out of 5