In my lifetime I have seen six different Spider-Man films brought to life. I have seen brought to life on the big screen by three different actors (Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland). Never have I enjoyed a Spider-Man movie as much as I enjoyed this one.
The animation brilliantly moves and feels like a comic book brought to life. It visually brilliant and incredibly cool to look at. The filmmakers who brought this adaptation of Spider-Man to life are the ones who have made "The Lego Movie" (which I have not seen) and "22 Jump Street" (which I have and also enjoyed immensely).
"Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse" brings different spider men and women from different alternate universes into the particular universe in which Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) an Afro-Latino (!) becomes Spider-Man.
This is an original Spider-Man story and while some things are re-treads of the old films (Miles gaining his powers, learning how to use them, losing someone close to him) they are presented in a new and fresh way. As you're watching Miles go through these things it feels like you are watching Spider-Man go through these things for the first time.
Miles is plunged into the world of superheroes after he watches the classic Peter Parker (Chris Pine) die under the hands of Kingpin (Liev Schrieber). Kingpin has commissioned a team to create a machine that will open up any alternate universes in existence. Things go awry and the different spideys are taken into Miles's world including an older Peter Parker (Jake Johnson). The new Peter unwillingly begins teaching Miles all there is to know about being Spider-Man.
Joining Peter and Miles is Spider-Gwen (teenage Gwen Stacy voiced by Hailee Steinfeld), Spider-Man Noir (a spider-man straight out the noir genre voiced by Nicolas Cage), Peni Parker (a girl from the future with a futuristic robot voiced Kimiko Glenn ), and Spider-Ham (a pig voiced by John Mulaney). It is especially cool to see all the ways in which they make these characters unique to their worlds. Spider-Ham can be straight out of a Looney Toons cartoon, Peni can be straight out of an anime, and Spider-Man noir has wind to billow out his coat anywhere he goes.
It is fun to see all these characters working together and clashing with one another. The entire voice cast in phenomenal as well. They inhabit these characters perfectly so you never feel as though you are hearing a celebrity simply lending their voice to a film.
Miles, Peter and the all the rest team up to bring Kingpin down and send everyone to their respective dimensions. Miles learns how to be Spider-Man and how to embrace the daunting responsibility now in his hands. All of this is done in a funny and dynamic way. Everyone knows I'm not a fan of superhero films. They are formulaic and action packed which was fun... before the world was saturated with Marvel and DC films at every turn. This was new and exciting. This had me rooting for Miles in a way I hadn't rooted for a hero in a long time. If more superhero films were like this, maybe I would be more excited to watch them.
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