A charming formula

Rating: 9/10 (8 December 2018)

Spider-man: Into the Spider-Verse took me by surprise. This Sony-Marvel Spider-Man animated movie came out of nowhere, but it has sealed itself as one of the best animated movies of 2018. I found this movie to be so fun, witty and moving that I feel compelled to write an extensive explanation why.
The animation is superb! The comic-book style is captivating, original and incredibly aesthetically pleasing. I found myself drawn to the huge Brooklyn metropolis than most other Spider-Man movies and that shows an incredible care went into design. The animations are fast and colourful, where often it leaves the audience trying to keep up with the scene just based on how much is going on. It's picturesque and bold take on animation is riveting, and I'm just super impressed.
The score and audio design are also a favourite of mine, with music from Vince Staples and Post Malone being the most notable one. The music keeps the movie upbeat while subtle enough to not detract from the narrative. Another example is that one of the villains has a specific sound for its character and each time it's played, the audience can immediately identify that character. Really amazing work.
And now the narrative. I'll say that the plot is a really refreshing take on the superhero formula. We've all beeen accustomed to the generic origin of Spider-Man after three different Spider-Mans and I'll have to say that this is my favourite. It's funny, unique and filled with lows and highs, which is a signature trait of excellent story telling.
The characters are also just well made, they're made by their conventions but defied into non-archetypical characters that feel real. The other Spider-Mans are fun characters and they bring a large part of the comedic effect for the movie. The dialogue and the relationship between characters embolden the movie nicely. My only issue is that some of them don't really serve the plot in a more meaningful way but they are just so darn fun to have.
Spider-Man: into the spider-verse is a well made movie, one that deserves your viewing. In the end of the day, it still follows a formula, but the beauty of the movie is that it doesn't make you notice that, and that's brilliant. Because after all the formula has worked for decades of movies, and the trick this movie did is to find out why the formula works and take the best parts.