When "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" was first announced, there was some skepticism. To that point, nobody had attempted a theatrically released animated comic book film or at least one that didn't bomb or wasn't a parody. The fact that said animated film was coming from Sony Pictures Animation didn't help. And it was adapting the comics of Miles Morales, a relatively unknown Spider-Man compared with Peter Parker. Add to that the fact that Sony's Spider-Man output hadn't been the best of late and you were looking at a very risky project. However, the risk paid off, with unprecedented box-office success for a December-released family film, massive critical and consumer praise and walking away with the Best Animated Feature trophy at last week's Oscars, putting an end to Disney/Pixar's six-year-long winning streak. Does this beloved adaptation deserve all its hype?
Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), an African/Puerto Rican teenager living in New York, is bitten by a radio-active spider. After the *spoilers* of the original Spider-Man, Miles must find a way to become the successor to the Spider-Man title and stop the infamous Kingpin (Liev Schreiber) from using an inter-dimensional device that could destroy the city. However, Miles' mission is complicated by the arrival to several different versions of Spider-Man being transported to his dimension by Kingpin's machine. There's a down-and-out, middle aged Spider-Man (Jake Johnson), a Spider-Gwen from a universe where she was bitten by the spider instead of Peter Parker (Hailee Steinfeld), a cartoon pig (John Mulaney), an anime girl with a psychic link to a spider living inside a robot (Kimiko Glenn) and a noir detective right out of a Sin City comic (Nicolas Cage). All six Spider-Men must team up together to stop the Kingpin and get back to their own dimensions.
An important factor for this film's success is how well it can introduce non-comics readers to elements not yet written into the movies. The non-Peter Parker versions of Spider-Man, the weirder versions of popular villains and mad scientist inventions are aspects of the comics the live-action adaptations have barely touched. The film manages to ease the audience into it with a brief introduction by the familiar Peter Parker Spider-Man to the world the film takes place in. Miles isn't immediately introduced as Spider-Man, but grows into the role throughout the film. And once the audience is made comfortable with the idea that this black kid will be their Spider-Man, any other difference isn't that big of a leap.
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It also helps that Miles is a genuinely likable character with an engaging arc. He seems like a normal teenager, with normal teenager problems. He's at a crossroads at his life between following his dreams of being a graffiti artist and continuing with school. He's awkward with his classmates and has no idea how to talk to girls. The addition of spider powers just adds to his stresses, as he must learn to control his new abilities and decide whether being Spider-Man is even the best option for him. There's a particularly resonant line from the film that encapsulates the film's theme: "When will I know I'm ready?" This mirrors the way a lot of young people feel; they have all these options before them, but they don't know which is the best or when they've reached their full potential. However, "Into the Spider-Verse" gives an optimistic answer to this struggle: you have the potential to excel at anything you decide. In the same way Miles has the potential to be a great Spider-Man, the film tells the audience that they can be something great as well. They just have to choose a path and take a leap of faith.
Everybody in the cast gives an amazing vocal performance. Moore convincingly portrays the teenage Miles with an energetic likability, Schreiber is hilarious as a slob version of Peter Parker and it's always nice to see Hailee Steinfeld in a good role. Even the supporting actors give their all for the part. Mahershala Ali is charming as Miles' uncle, Lily Tomlin slips easily into the role of a reimagined Aunt May and even Nic Cage and John Mulaney are memorable and hilarious in their roles.
The aspect of the film that everybody and their grandmother has been talking about is the animation and with good reason. The animators have brought the energy and color of comic books to life in a way that the live action adaptations can only pay homage to. The unique art style is only part of their success, however. The animation team has combined multiple different animation techniques together to create a truly innovative style. For example, in order to convey movement and energy most cartoons with use a technique called motion blur, used to make movement seem more real. "Into the Spider-Verse", conversely, uses an older technique called smearing, where movement is conveyed by drawing multiple frames of an object in motion at once. They also brought in comic book techniques like speech boxes, layered panels and disembodied onomatopoeia. They even used an old technique called "Kirby Krackle," which uses dots to convey a sense of energy.
The animation team goes even further, however, with their work on the alternate versions of Spider-Man. Spider-Man Noir is smoothly animated in inky blackness. Spider-Ham moves like a squash and stretch cartoon. Peni Parker is animated in the static style of Japanese anime. The animators could've made it way easier on themselves and just had them move and look the same, but they went the extra mile for the sake of immersion. If all these different characters had been animated the same way, that would've been serviceable, but wouldn't have made nearly as much sense or been nearly as much fun.
Despite being an animated family film about Spider-Man, "Into the Spider-Verse" doggedly refuses to be a comedy. It is funny, with a lot of great jokes and sight-gags, but it's fundamentally a drama about self-discovery. This, more than anything, propels it to being the best adaptation of Spider-Man to date. So many film adaptations try to capture the comedy of the character while completely missing the fact that Spider-Man, at his core, is a dramatic character, defined by tragedy and struggle.
It has been so long since a film has been able to strip away my carefully learned critical cynicism and replace it with pure elation. "Into the Spider-Verse" is funny, but always remembers its dramatic core. It's exciting and thrilling while also keeping the action scenes fun. The animation is spectacular, finally bringing the awesomeness of comic visuals to a movie in a way live action can only dream. It's the ultimate adaptation of the Spider-Man character.
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