paige’s review published on Letterboxd:
this movie is, first and foremost, a love letter. it has a lot of love, not just for the thrills that we've come to expect from these huge cinematic blockbusters, but for all the heart and the inspiration and even the schlock of the superhero genre.
about a week or so ago i wrote a thing about how realism shouldn't be a benchmark for what we consider a good film, and i think this film might be one of the best examples of why that is. this story would never worked as well as it did if it were live-action, or even if the animation were made to look realistic. every transition, colour choice, sound effect, facial expression, etc etc etc made this world feel so rich and inviting. with superhero films feeling more and more standardised over the past decade, this feels like a breath of fresh air, and i'd love to see the places they could take this in the future.
also i'm just really fond of the concept of mantles in superhero universes, considering that nearly no superhero identity has been taken up by one person and one person only, so i'm just jazzed to FINALLY see a blockbuster even dip their toe into the idea.
EDIT: fuck it, i'm giving this five stars, my first five star movie of the year. i really fucking adored this.
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