Spiderman: Across The Spiderverse review

I remember when the first animated Spiderman movie, Into The Spiderverse, was announced I wasn't interested at all. We had live action Spiderman going. What use is an animated version? 

But then it came out...and it was pretty good. The animation style was very cool. It gave a good big screen intro to Miles Morales. It was packed with easter eggs. It did well and actually won the Oscar for best animated feature. Still wasn't a favorite movie of mine or anything, cause I wasn't that into the actual story in it, but I was up for more. 

And Spiderman: Across The Spiderverse is more. More characters. More worlds. More references.

This is a spectacular sequel that bests the original in almost every way. This time I really did get into the story. And I was even more astounded by the scope of visual creativity on display in every moment. It makes most other big screen animation look like stick figure drawings. 

This time Miles is wrapped up in a multiverse spanning plot kicked into gear by a villain named The Spot (voiced by Jason Schwartzman). This leads Miles into contact with a whole collection of other Spiderpeople, including the returning Gwen Stacy Spiderwoman (voiced by Hailee Steinfeld, irresistible even when unseen). 

We get an Indian Spiderman, a punk rock Spiderman, a futuristic Spiderman, even a dinosaur Spiderman. There's an extended sequence where Miles comes to a place where all the multiverse Spiderpeople congregate. Didn't see any of the live action guys hanging around.

So much happens in this film that I can't even chronicle it off a single viewing. But even with all the spectacle there's still a good family story in there with Miles and his parents. 
And there is some sly meta commentary directed towards the toxic fanboy culture out there that clings to the precious "canon."

It is a part 1. That's maybe the one major issue is that as half a film it could be cut down from a nearly 2 1/2 hour run time. And it ends on a cliffhanger, which is a bit of a trend this summer after Fast X and with the next Mission Impossible being a part 1 also. It's a good cliffhanger though, and after watching such a massively entertaining film like this who wouldn't want to come back for part 2? 



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