Today’s review is brought to you by TR, one of our valued partners and the administrator of Golden Plume Press, an OEL manga firm.
Come for the anime, stay for the awesome.
Turns out you can see only so many superhero movies. You know how it goes. Hero X has to stop Terrible Threat Y from destroying everything they hold dear. Things progressively intensify, until nearly all hope is lost, then blamo! the hero calls upon their hidden, innermost strength, saving everything at the last second. The people rejoice, the hero is popular for a week, before it starts all over anew in Sequel Z or worse, Reboot A.
Sigh. Give us something new, something different.
With the Ceniplex seemingly ever awash in superhero movies, it’s understandable if you happened to skip this one. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse released at the height of the hectic 2018 holiday season, just a week ahead of the marketing juggernaut known as Aquaman (originally they shared the same opening date). I too would have missed it, if not for a certain ensemble character that generated a flurry of retweets within the anime community prior to opening. As it turned out, someone, somewhere at Sony Animation decided to slip a dose of Japan into the Western mix by the addition of Peni Parker (voiced by Kimiko Glenn), a high-spirited, genius-grade, mecha piloting teen happa from the future.
Well, if it has an anime character, it’s worth a shot, right?
Spider-Verse does far better. It delivers on different– with turbo boost.
From the first frame to last, you’re pulled into an animation style all of its own. Not Pixar, nor Dreamworks, but a comic book come to vivid life. It’s a dazzling display of ingenuity and imagination that is nearly captivating enough, before the smart dialogue and witty jokes leave your eyes watering and sides hurting. Spider-Verse is a high-energy ride where you don’t dare look down at your popcorn, otherwise you’ll miss something good.
Different extends even to the ensemble characters. Whereas much of the cast shares one style, Peni appears as if lifted from a Studio Ghibli meets Flash animation. Her mismatch from the others plays well to the story given how she’s from the far future (year 3145). Spider-Man Noir (Nicolas Cage) is a halftone masterpiece sadly short on screen time, while Spider-Ham (John Mulaney) brings a touch of cartoony fun without being overly slapstick.
Obvious throughout the nearly two-hour run is that the creative team poured their passion for comic books into the project. At times Spider-Verse lovingly pokes fun at itself, other times it’s serious fare. As the project immediately following Stan Lee’s death, it delivers a poignant remembrance (twice) of the man who made such an impact in so many comic book reading lives. Moreover, in an industry where there is so much ongoing upheaval and toxicity over Comicsgate, it offers a welcome breath of fresh air, making us remember what we enjoy so much about the medium.
It’s hard to find faults. While the plot isn’t very original at times (steal plans from villain to rebuild borked McGuffin which will disable doomsday device), the story is primarily character driven, which is where it shines. Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) humorously ping pongs off a disillusioned and resigned Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson) while coping with newly acquired superpowers and the adolescent struggle of family, individuality, and who you want to be. The writers even give the villain Wilson Fisk (Liev Schreiber) a relatable and meaningful—albeit wrong—reason for doing what he does. Death and intense peril is well executed, providing both dignity and gravitas, keeping things PG while carrying all the impact of a higher rating. It’s kids fare that feels adult, respecting everyone.
Lately some projects have opted to bill inclusivity as their greatest asset, making a heavy-handed morality play at potential viewers in an attempt to generate forced attention, a move rubbing many fans the wrong way. Spider-Verse leads by example with the exact opposite, seamlessly weaving a diverse web lead by Miles, an Afro-Latino teenager, who comingles English and Spanish with family and friends before joining forces with Peter B. and Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld), who does the ladies proud. Peni’s Overwatch-esque mecha, SP//dr, flashes kanji on its interface, while the henchman Scorpion (Joaquín Cosio) speaks only in Espanol. It all feels genuine and real, not forced and in your face.
Spider-Verse is one of those rare superhero movies that does things awesomely different, helping us remember and appreciate why we are nerds (and otaku) after all.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is available today on DVD/BD.
Rating: ***** (5/5 stars)
This movie was the best Spider-Man film of all time. Period
I rented it today! Can’t wait to watch it.
This review has made me want to see it even more! 🙂
I’m watching it right now!
Hello! How did the college fair go?
It went well!
@Rachel @Charles Wyatt’s awesome 👏😎since I put the cool 😎 emoji,Wyatt’s so cool 😎
I wonder if Wyatt thinks I’m cool 😎 I bet Wyatt does
That was quick!
I know that you think Wyatt is cool. I think my crush (Chris) is cool too.
I’m probably going to rent this movie tonight!
I actually ended up not watching it because my brother wanted to watch it with me and my dad, but he had homework to do. So we’re going to watch it another night. Instead, me and my dad watched an animated Korean movie called Kai: Legend of the Icy Lake.
Ah, okay! How was the Korean movie?
It was a great movie. The way it is constructed is a very interesting effort to appeal both to the kids and the middle-age fans. Even if I´m not sure I fully connect with Miles and his problems, the imaginery was so inventive and energetic, the characters -specially the analogues- were so fun, the villains so menacing and full of drama, the jokes so clever and it was all so masterly told that I wouldn´t be surprised if it ends up founding a new comic-film genre, not fully animation and not fully computerized. Also, the multiverse thing was a good way to make fun on the multiple recent adaptations of the character.
I don’t think I could say it any better!
It was pretty good!