A fantastic new Spiderman movie, for me one of the best since 'Spiderman 2" back in 2004, the animated SPIDER-MAN INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE is a mind blowing plunge deep into comic book territory.
With generous amounts of humor and clever wit, the film recreates the comic book experience on screen, with blasts of color, a pounding music score and great sound effects to support the visuals.
We meet young Miles Morales, new to a charter high school in NYC and suddenly bestowed with Spider powers when he's bit by a radioactive spider.
But how can that be? Spiderman is already keeping NYC safe, yet Miles experience is mirroring his first days in the suit.
Some seriously bad (and perfectly drawn) villains have opened up a portal to multiple dimensions that begin to merge with Miles' NYC.
I'll say little else about the story except to say its smart and hilarious, setting up the best battles since the classic battles against Doc Ock back in Spidey2.
The voice work is excellent all around. Shameik Moore (Dope) is a great Miles, Jake Johnson (New Girl) is an aging Peter Parker, Mahershala Ali (Green Book) is fantastic as Miles father, Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit) is Gwen Stacy, Lily Tomlin is Aunt Mae and Chris Pine, Nicholas Cage and Liev Schreiber all contribute great characters that are better if you discover them on your own.
Writers Phil Lord and Rodney Rothman (The Lego Movie, 22 Jump Street) are entertaining as hell, taking all the parts of a superhero movie you love and blasting them into something wholly original and respectful of the original comic book format at the same time.
BOOM! and POW! have never appeared so effectively on screen.
I don't think I've seen five different versions of the same story so incredibly well entwined since Tom Cruise's underrated "Edge of Tomorrow" thriller.
Kids will love it, superhero movie fans of all ages have loved it for that matter.
When I heard "an animated retelling of Spiderman bringing in multiple dimensions...and yes, it’s a cartoon!" I just muttered my lack of enthusiasm and walked away.
Couldn't have been more wrong.
Vision, visual style and terrific storytelling aren't the exclusive bastion of a live action movie. Here's proof positive.
It makes me wonder how all of our favorite superheroes would fare in this medium.
It also manages to sneak in the best cameo of all time from the great Stan Lee.
If you like Marvel movies, get a ticket to this now on the big screen. The Spider-verse is definitely worth visiting and gets an A.
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