Brendonyu668’s review published on Letterboxd:
(Theatrical Version) Second time watching this. Yeah, it is as good as I remembered. Haven't seen the film for 3 years.
The screenplay is perfect. The character introductions are clear and the opening gives a perfect summarisation of the live action Spider-Man films. There is an excellent amount of emotions present and reflection, while providing a protagonist that is relatable. The family aspects are well portrayed with a brilliant twist. There may be a lack of characterisations of the villains and other Spideys, but this is not the focus of the film. Kingpin's main aim is straightforward. There are a lot of deep themes to admire about encouragement, but also bringing in some humour. The ending is a good finish.
The voice cast is amazing and very engaging to watch throughout the running time. I need to mention Nicolas Cage - this is one of his best roles recently.
What this film excels best is the animation. This is the most unique animation I have ever seen committed to cinema - breathing comic book style with splendid amount of colour pops, but also doing a realistic creation of NYC. The Spideys design is cutting edge, particularly the black and white noir for Noir Spider-Man and the anime-style Peni Parker. I still can't believe that a non-Japanese studio can faithfully create an anime character.
The music does a superb job bringing in more excitement and shocks in the action sequences and the sound design is very bombastic. Wonderful fun use of cartoon sounds too! There is not a single dull moment - the whole film captures my attention.
An absolutely well deserved Oscar win for Best Animated Feature. In my opinion, this should get a Best Picture nomination, rather than Black Panther due to its pleasure and innovation, while maintaining a magnificent plot. Still the best Spider-Man film.
An absolute must watch if you haven't seen it yet!
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