"There is only one Spider-Man, and I'm it"... Stupendously great fun

Rating: 9/10 (24 December 2018)

"Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse" (2018 release; 117 min.) is the latest version of the Peter Parker /Spiderman story. After a clever opening montage with the Columbia/Sony/Marvel logos, Spiderman introduces himself to the audience: "There is only one Spiderman, and I'm it!". We then get to know Miles Morales, a teenager who admires Spiderman, and does not like attending school at the elite Brooklyn Visions Academy. His dad is a cop at the NYPD, and does not care much for Spiderman. One day Miles visits his freewheeling uncle, and while Miles is working on mural art, he is bitten by a spider. He wakes up the next day having grown taller overnight, and with a lower voice, and with strange powers. Could there be more than one Spiderman? At this point we're a good 10 min. into the movie, but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.
Couple of comments: when a movie requires not one, not two, but three directors, it typically is a very bad sign, but in this case it turns out to be the exact opposite. Among the never-ending stream of comic book heroes live action fare, often with dubious quality (this week's Aquaman looks particularly bad), here comes a computer-animated film that has been freed from live-action shackles, and as a result is the freshest offering in the comic book superhero movies in a long time. The animation is dazzling, the characters are in-depth, the story line is complex and engaging. When I saw the movie's end credits, I saw all these big names for the voices (Nicolas Cage, Hailee Steinfeld, Lily Tomlin, Zoe Kravitz, Liev Schreiber, etc.). Truth be told, I hadn't recognized a single of them as the movie was playing. Look out for a cameo appearance from Stan Lee himself (sadly he passed away just weeks before this movie came out). Bottom line: "Spider-Man: Into the Spider=Verse" shows the way how, for me, comic books should get the big screen treatment. Can't wait for the sequel and apparent spin-offs (yes, plural!).
"Spider-man: Into the Spider-Verse" was released wide on December 14, with tremendous positive buzz and critical acclaim. The Sunday early evening screening where I saw this at here in Cincinnati was attended very nicely, with lots of families and kids "from age 7 to 77". If you are curious whether the film is as good as people say it is, I readily suggest you check it out, be it in theaters (for maximum visual impact), on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.