"What would I do if I were me?"

Rating: 7/10 (2 January 2019)

Uh-oh, I feel a 'here I go again' coming. As I write this, "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" is ranked #29 on IMDb's list of Top 250 movies of all time, right there in between "Saving Private Ryan" and "LÃ©on: The Professional". Among the eighty plus comic-book based super-hero movies I've seen and reviewed, it comes in at #2, right behind "The Dark Knight", which means viewers give it a higher rating than "Avengers: Infinity War" and "Guardians of the Galaxy", if any of you Marvel fans care about that. I don't know, I just think there's just something askew about that, instinctively telling me that in this case, it's not the quality of the movie that places it so high in the rankings, but the overall popularity and buzz that attaches itself to the film. But enough of that.
I actually thought the film was OK, not great, but OK. As far as animated movies go, I thought it was exceptionally rendered with bright, vivid colors and an interesting cast of characters, some of whom I was familiar with and others not. I actually do remember Spider-Ham from the dark recesses of my memory long ago. As far as the story line goes, it wasn't particularly new or innovative, how many threats to reality have you encountered over the course of your movie viewing lives? If it sounds like I'm trashing the flick, I'm not really, I think it's great for kids and fans of animated movies. Speaking of which, and relative to my argument above, the picture is outranked by the Japanese anime "Spirited Away" on the current Top 250 at Number #27, so I'm not bashing the picture for not being live action.
My biggest kick out of watching the movie, and I make this statement a lot about Marvel based comic book movies, was seeing writer and artist Stan Lee drawn into the film as a store clerk named appropriately enough, 'Stan'. With his recent passing at the age of ninety five, it saddens me to know that I won't be seeing him in those ubiquitous cameo spots that I always look for in a Marvel super-hero film. As one of the original creators of Spider-Man along with Steve Ditko (who also passed away in 2018), I'd like to think that Stan Lee got his own special preview showing of "Into the Spider-Verse" before he entered Valhalla. He is one that will be missed.