Michael Colan’s review published on Letterboxd:
When I was a kid we always saw animated superheroes as a placeholder or a stepping stone to that big budget live action superhero film. Sure, an animated Spider-Man show was cool but we really wanted a live action Spider-Man. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is an animated film that makes us ask the question, is that even what we should have been dreaming of?
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is a beautifully animated feature film that is unlike any other animated movie out there in terms of animation style. The movie effortlessly weaves between different art style in a fast paced environment and never feels at odds with itself.
Even more impressive is the filmmakers clearly wrote a story that could only be told in a world of animation. The animation is motivated by the story and the story doesn’t work without the animation. Never once did I sit there and think, “this is cool but I would rather just have a live action Spider-Man movie.” I’m so happy that this movie got the animation treatment and that Sony went above a beyond most animated superhero films (which are almost all direct to Blu-ray these days).
Some might be wondering if it stacks up to the live action films and I can easily say it is the best Spider-Man movie since Sam Rami’s Spider-Man 2. This is the most interesting the character(s) have been in a while and this movie is largely entertaining. The movie is more comedic than any other Spider-Man film and the movie’s comedic style reminded me a lot of the Lego Batman Movie (just not quite as bonkers and all over the place).
I was happy seeing Miles Morales get the big screen treatment and proves he is just as capable on the big screen as he is on the printed page (however my favorite Spider-Man in this movie is Spider-Noir voiced by Nic Cage).
My only real criticism is I felt the villains were underutilized. The movie does a good job building up The Prowler but ultimately doesn’t carry through on the conflict that is established.
That aside, this is a fun superhero movie that is meta and self aware but has a lot of heart and clearly has a lot of love and respect for the source material. Please DO NOT look at it as some sort of place holder for the next live action Spider-Man. This is imaginative and creative and clearly has a lot of work put into it. This is every bit as worthy of the Spider-Man name as the next Homecoming sequel (if not, moreso). Go see this movie.
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