A Fresh Spin on Spidey

Rating: 10/10 (4 March 2019)

After a wonderful Tom Holland-led reboot in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (with 'Civil War', 'Homecoming' and 'Infinity War'), Spider-Man is bankable again.
'Into the Spider-Verse' capitalises on that momentum with a fresh take on Spider-Man lore and taking advantage of the deep roster of Spider men and women.
There are seven Spideys in this glorious animated film: current day Spider-Man (Chris Pine), Peter B. Parker's fatter, lazier Spider-Man ('New Girl's' Jake Johnson), Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), Spider-Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld), Noir Spider-Man (Nicholas Cage, redeeming his superhero cred after Ghost Rider), Peni Parker (Kimiko Glenn) and cartoon parody Spider-Ham (John Mulaney). While it's a small selection of the massive Spider-Verse from the comics, it's enough for this film. All the Spideys are distinct: Peter B. Parker is a slobby, divorced has-been; Spider-Gwen gives a younger, female perspective; Peni Parker has the anime cutesiness and technology; Noir Spider-Man has the old-fashioned lingo and confusion over a Rubik's Cube; and Spider-Ham has 'Looney Tunes' cartoon silliness.
Being a superhero film, there's the necessary origin story for Miles, but it's different enough to not be rehashing the same old boring tale. Miles' journey follows the familiar beats before a final confrontation with Kingpin (Liev Schreiber), which takes place in a multi-colour multi-world purgatory. It's incredibly ambitious and it works.
There's a fine sense of humour, with lots of references to previous Spider-Man films (taking a gleeful shot at the embarrassing 'Spider-Man 3'), the comics (when Miles first develops his powers, his thoughts are illuminated in comic panels) and a wonderful cameo from Stan Lee. It's also nice to see Lily Tomlin's Aunt May as a badass who has her own Spider lair rather than a frail old woman who has no idea that Peter is Spider-Man.
If you love Spider-Man, this is essential viewing.