Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

Rating: 7/10 (29 July 2019)

Directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rotham. Starring (voices) Shameik Moore, Jake Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Hailee Steinfeld, Mahershala Ali, Liev Schreiber, Lily Tomlin, John Mulaney, Kimiko Glenn, Nicolas Cage, Luna Lauren Velez, Kathryn Hahn, Zoe Kravitz, Chris Pine. (PG)
Ambitious animated adaptation of the Miles Morales storyline in the Spider-Man universe centers on an Afro-Latino teen taking over as the webslinger after the death of Peter Parker, as well as the introduction of a multiverse concept where myriad spider-centric heroes from different dimensions appear in NYC (including, among others, a perky, anime-styled Peni Parker and Peter Porker, aka Spider-Ham). Dazzling production is as close to one-of-a-kind as feature-length animated films go, combining hand-drawn and computer animation in exciting, fluid ways; it's always great to look at. Unfortunately, the story itself is often plodding, obvious, and illogical (despite the positive message it's delivering) in all the ways that hinder many modern superhero movies, and the over-extended climax is more noisy and chaotic than visceral and rousing. The voice work is uniformly good while Mulaney, Glenn and Cage's characters are the scene-stealers, but they are sadly underutilized; spin-off, anyone?
70/100