Entertaining, Visually-Stunning, Creative Spider-Man Movie

Rating: 8/10 (14 December 2018)

Featuring a unique animation style and plenty of clever writing, "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" is a Spider-Man movie like none other. The film centers on Miles Morales, a teenager from Brooklyn who finds that he can possess powers of Spider-Man in both this reality as well as another reality. Eventually, his paths collide with Peter Parker as well as several others, as they must stop a villain named Kingpin. The film's stylized animation style is intended to look and feel just like a comic book, and that it does. While some viewers might find it a bit jarring from time to time, the animation looks outstanding and has an extraordinary level of attention to detail. A scene near the climax with Miles Morales web-swinging through Manhattan is utterly stunning. The film has plenty of Easter eggs throughout as well, which superhero fans will most certainly appreciate, as well as a great soundtrack.
The story is engaging and entertaining, and the film is well-paced without ever dragging. The narrative opens up many dimensions (pun intended) to the plot, but is able to properly tie up all loose ends by the film's thrilling and engaging climax. Unlike some superhero movies, a real emotional connection between many of the principal characters is formed in that you actually feel for them. The characters are also quite well-developed, even if such development is formed in a somewhat repetitive manner at times. My only real criticism of the film is that the villains (besides Kingpin) were not always enthralling and did not always add as much to the narrative as they could have in the scenes in which they appeared. Otherwise, this highly entertaining and original take on Spider-Man is a breath of fresh air for those of us getting tired of some of the more derivative superhero movies. Gladly recommended. 8/10
Note: I saw the film in Dolby Cinema. My friend and I both agreed that the format really enhanced the experience, as the sound and picture quality were both very strong. The use of the "rumble" effect was effective and immersive, and was used more frequently than other films I have seen in Dolby.