Into the Verse

Rating: 8/10 (15 January 2019)

Spiderman: Into The Spiderverse (8.5/10)
Director: Bob Persichetti/Peter Ramsey/Rodney Rothman
Runtime: 117 Minutes
Into The Spiderverse is one of the last big films of 2018, I still need to get round to seeing Mary Poppins Returns and then my reviews for 2018 will slowly be reaching their end. The latest Spiderman adventure stays away from the story of Peter Parker and gives us a new main character in the form of Miles Morales. We've had three different incarnations of Spiderman in the last decade, all three telling us the exact same origin story, though Homecoming did differ slightly. If anyone is interested in knowing my thoughts on the previous movies, Spiderman 1 and 26 are both amazing superhero flicks, 3 is average but incredibly flawed. The Amazing Spiderman is ok, however, it's nothing new and becomes boring to watch. The sequel is incredibly bad. Finally, I appreciate Homecoming for not needing to tell us Spiderman's origin story again but it still felt like a safe superhero movie, never taking any risks. In Spiderverse, instead of one origin story, we get five and all are done in humour fashions.
Miles Morales comes across the long-dead Peter Parker. This Peter Parker is not from his world though; he's from somewhere else in the multiverse. With Parker's guidance, Miles will become Spider-Man: and through that he will become part of the ever-expanding 'Spider-Verse'.
Though the story begins with Peter Parker, this is definitely not his story. Miles Morales is a nice change of pace, he's very relatable, smart like Peter Parker, but much more of a street punk. Wanting to spend his free time spray painting his art under subways, or listening to hip-hop tracks with his uncle. Every other Spiderman gets enough development to make them worthy of the title, Peter Parker and Gwen Stacey are the most fleshed out. With the movie only slightly delving into the origin stories of the other three incarnations. If it wasn't for Nicolas Cage voicing Spiderman Noir, then I probably wouldn't care about the character but Cage always knows how to have fun in a role.
I've got to talk about the biggest standout of the movie, the animation. It's absolutely stunning, the best animation seen all year. It truly is a comic book brought to life, the colours are always popping and vibrant, the mixture of 2D and 3D animation blends so smoothly. It's like nothing I've ever seen before and I look forward to seeing more from this universe in the future and because it's animated in such a way you're able to accomplish things you could never see in a live action Spiderman movie. It shifts tones really well, its extremely funny and has enough good visual gags but when it's time to get serious all three of its directors know this and the transition is always welcomed.
There were a few redesigns that I didn't like, especially the Green Goblins whos original design is one of my favourites from the Spiderman universe and I was really sad to not be able to see it animated in this world. Although I loved most of the gags, there were a few that didn't land for me and although the soundtrack was really good and I see it appealing to the younger audience, personally I don't like this music so it didn't really add much to the feel of the movie. However, this is a minor personal thing and I don't consider it much of an issue.
Overall, Into The Spiderverse is one of the best Spiderman movies ever. Is it the best? Well, that's up for debate. Its animation makes it stand out and feel fresh, it's frequently funny and has a lot of good visual gags. Every Spiderman gets their time to shine. The action is intense and beautiful.