Spider-Man is a difficult character to bring to life in any show or film. The ability of comic book artists, like Steve Ditko, to create a sense of uniqueness and motion on the still pages of the comic books brought Spider-Man to life. Spider-Man's movements and super abilities do not easily translate from comic book panel to film, regardless of whether it is a Animated TV show or Live Action or somewhere in between. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is the first show or film that captures that essence and brings it to life. The life like animation style of the Film which is clearly neither Live Action or Old School Animation grabs hold of the comic book roots and springs Spider-Man onto the Screen. In many ways the animation of this film is the perfect medium for Spider-Man.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is the origin story of Miles Morales' incarnation of Spider-Man. does an exceptional job of opening that reality to even the most casual of fans.
Without diving in to deep, Marvel has used the idea of Alternate Universe to tell similar stories with various twists. In one Alternative Universe the radioactive Spider bites Gwen Stacy rather Peter Parker and Spider-Gwen is born rather than Spider-Man. Miles Morales was created by Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli for the Ultimate Marvel Universe in 2011, which was an alternative to the main line Marvel Universe, known as 616. Alternative Universes are a bit difficult and complicated for general fans of Comic Books to follow.
Through out Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse we are introduced to alternative versions of Spider-Man and one of the accomplishments of this film is they are all different and all Spider-Man (Gwen/Pig) at the same time in vary different ways. These characters never become the focus of the film they always are the supporting cast. This film is clearly about Miles journey to become Spider-Man.
One of the interesting aspects of this film is how funny the film is. Each character is the funny in their own way, but none of the jokes feel forced or scripted, it just feels natural, and flowing. At the same time the film is very serious and characters look upon their world with all the intensity of Oscar caliber dramas.
The actors voices for each of the characters is well chosen and truly fits the part.
The film is rated PG, but it is meant for an older audience. That really caught me off guard. It is an extremely interesting story with multiple story arcs running through out the film. There is little profanity or vulgar language but the dialogue is actually quite high set, a ten year old may not understand every word uttered. The film is long, I am not actually sure how long it is as Sony has yet to announce the actual run time and I didn't check my watch, but for mature audiences you will not even notice the length, the younger crowd might get a little rambunctious here and there.
During my screening which had a fairly diverse audience I was amazed at how immersed into the film everyone else was. The lady next to me actually stopped chewing her gum halfway through the film.
The Stan Lee cameo was extremely touching and there were many a damp blurry eye in the theater when it occurred.
I found
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse to be the best Spider-Man film or show, released to date, including Spectacular Spider-Man which was my favorite.
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