Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

Director: Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman
Starring: Shameik Moore, Jake Johnson, Hailee Steinfeld

Synopsis:
A blue collar kid at an elite school develops the same powers as Spider-Man amid a plot to traverse dimensions.

Impressions:
Perhaps the best thing for Sony to do with the Spider-Man license was to dive into the multiverse rather than retreading the same ground. One of the most striking aspects of this film is the art direction. It's a visual treat that does a lot of interesting things like differing art styles for certain characters, comic book text bubbles and sound effects, etc. The humor is also quite good, as you'd expect from a story (primarily) by Phil Lord. There are some good dynamics with the characters, especially Miles/Peter B and Miles/Gwen. I also want to note that the casting of Spider-Man Noir was brilliant. It could have been easy to get bogged down with the multiverse shenanigans, but the narrative manages to play out fairly smoothly. What's not so smooth is the framerate on the animation, but that was a stylistic choice meant to evoke something of a motion comic look (though it's probably not for everyone). If you're looking for a different take on the Spider-franchise with a distinct look, good humor and a fair bit of heart, this is worth a watch at the very least.

Rating:
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