Spider-Verse review

Rating: 9/10 (28 April 2019)

When I saw the trailer for this, I didn't think it'd be that great. But this definitely lives up to the hype. Definitely.
The animation, music and voice acting are the strongest things in the film.
The animation is excellently done; this is probably the prettiest animated film I've seen in years. The attention to detail is fantastic and that is best represented in the fight scenes. They add "BOOM"s and "SMASH"s on screen. When Miles is talking to himself in his head, what he's saying is also put in yellow boxes on screen just like the thought bubbles in comics. This whole film is made to look like one massive, moving comic book. Even down to the colours and light sources being shaded like a comic book. Peni Parker and Peter Porker were very well done. I mention this because they are both completely different art styles than anything else in the film. Peni Parker was anime influenced and Peter Porker was drawn in traditional 2D animation.
The film does contain lots of licensed music in it. And this is when my one problem with the film arises. For the most part the licensed music was used well (an example being Post Malone's original song for the film), except in the emotional scenes of the film. When I'm watching a film and I'm supposed to be sad, I don't wanna be listening to a Lil' Wayne song. The films original score (although it is slightly overshadowed by the aforementioned licensed music) it is still great and fun to listen to. There was a really cool leitmotif for one of the villains that was easily recognisable.
The voice acting was great from all parties. I was surprised to learn that Nicholas Cage was in this film and all of his scenes were hilarious.
There were so many references to the comics and other Spider-Man films which were really nice to see. They used the alternate dimension plot-line as an excuse to really clearly redesign some of the villains (most notably Green Goblin, Doc Oc, Scorpion, and Tombstone).
I admire how the film didn't only use jokes that kid would get (most notably the references to films and comics and a quick Banksy reference).
This is a charming, hilarious, well choreographed, fast paced, stunningly animated film.
9/10