How do you take a property that has had six movies in sixteen years and create the best one while also being totally new and fresh? This is how.
Well, you start out by introducing a whole new Spider-Man in Miles Morales. And then you introduce more Spider-Men that most people have not heard of in the forms of Spider-Gwen, Spider-Ham/Peter Porker, Spider-Man Noir, and Peni Parker. Then you implement an innovative animated style to differentiate it from everything else. You cast well, and oh yeah… You have a kick-ass story that resonates emotionally and have a ton of fun.
******SPOILERS AHEAD******
You can probably tell that I loved this movie. Any movie that can make fun of its main character like this movie did will always score points with me. Miles shares a lot of similarities with Peter Parker in that he is socially awkward, nerdy, and very unsure of himself. What makes this movie different from other Spider-Man films is how the writers (Phil Lord and Christopher Miller) turn everything on its head. When Peter Parker is bitten by a radioactive spider, it’s depicted as incredibly painful and his body starts to violently seize. He goes home and sleeps for three days because of the spider bite. In Spider-Verse, the spider bite is played for laughs. The music swells and the camera zooms in as the spider bites him, but then the music cuts and Miles just slaps the spider off his hand, not thinking twice about the minor annoyance.
In every other Spider-Man film, Peter must learn how to do things on his own, but Miles has a plethora of teachers in the other different Spider-Men. Each Spider-Person has his or her own moment to shine, but my personal favorite is Nicolas Cage as Spider-Man Noir. You can tell Nic Cage got free reign to play with his lines as much as possible while in the sound booth for this film. When he is introduced and the Spider-People ask about how Spider-Man Noir’s coat is billowing in the wind when there is no wind, Nic Cage just responds in his Nic Cage whisper, “Wherever I go, the wind follows.” It’s so awesome because Cage has become such an eccentric actor and he just goes for it.
******SPOILERS AHEAD******
You can probably tell that I loved this movie. Any movie that can make fun of its main character like this movie did will always score points with me. Miles shares a lot of similarities with Peter Parker in that he is socially awkward, nerdy, and very unsure of himself. What makes this movie different from other Spider-Man films is how the writers (Phil Lord and Christopher Miller) turn everything on its head. When Peter Parker is bitten by a radioactive spider, it’s depicted as incredibly painful and his body starts to violently seize. He goes home and sleeps for three days because of the spider bite. In Spider-Verse, the spider bite is played for laughs. The music swells and the camera zooms in as the spider bites him, but then the music cuts and Miles just slaps the spider off his hand, not thinking twice about the minor annoyance.
In every other Spider-Man film, Peter must learn how to do things on his own, but Miles has a plethora of teachers in the other different Spider-Men. Each Spider-Person has his or her own moment to shine, but my personal favorite is Nicolas Cage as Spider-Man Noir. You can tell Nic Cage got free reign to play with his lines as much as possible while in the sound booth for this film. When he is introduced and the Spider-People ask about how Spider-Man Noir’s coat is billowing in the wind when there is no wind, Nic Cage just responds in his Nic Cage whisper, “Wherever I go, the wind follows.” It’s so awesome because Cage has become such an eccentric actor and he just goes for it.
It’s kind of amazing how much you feel for all these characters in a film that is less than two hours long. Peter B. Parker’s story of how he became scared when Mary Jane wanted kids and they divorced was something I didn’t think I would see in a Spider-Man film, let alone an animated one. Spider-Gwen lost her friend, Peter Parker. Heck, Kingpin lost his family and he is trying desperately to bring them back. And then Miles loses his uncle Aaron.
Anytime a film can make me tear up or cry, I give that film full props because normally I'm rather stone-faced when it comes to emotional scenes. This film made me tear up twice and you can probably guess which two scenes. When Miles holds his Uncle Aaron’s hand as he is dying and Aaron says, “Miles, you’re the best of us,”, I started to feel that lump in my throat. Next, it was the scene where Miles’s dad comes to his dorm room and explains that he is hard on Miles because he sees a spark in him that is amazing and he has so much potential.
This talk triggers Miles to gain full control over his powers. Now, this is the one major issue I had with the movie. Throughout the entire film, Miles has trouble controlling his powers which forces other characters to save him and eventually ditch him when they go try to stop Kingpin. I can't stand the movie trope where an inspirational speech is made and then the person or people who hear the speech immediately become unstoppable or invincible. Miles doesn’t become invincible, but he starts doing a bunch of stuff he could not do before the speech because he was ready to take the leap of faith required to become a superhero. Since the movie is so good and so consistent, it’s easy for me to let it slide as just a minor annoyance.
The final act kept me fully engaged as the Spider-Gang takes down the Kingpin and they all return to their respective universes and Miles finally meets his roommate at school. If you haven’t seen this film, you need to stop what you’re doing right now and go see it. It’s the best Spider-Man movie ever and it’s tied with Incredibles 2 as my favorite animated movie of the year.
4.8/5 - Stop what you're doing and go see this movie!
Anytime a film can make me tear up or cry, I give that film full props because normally I'm rather stone-faced when it comes to emotional scenes. This film made me tear up twice and you can probably guess which two scenes. When Miles holds his Uncle Aaron’s hand as he is dying and Aaron says, “Miles, you’re the best of us,”, I started to feel that lump in my throat. Next, it was the scene where Miles’s dad comes to his dorm room and explains that he is hard on Miles because he sees a spark in him that is amazing and he has so much potential.
This talk triggers Miles to gain full control over his powers. Now, this is the one major issue I had with the movie. Throughout the entire film, Miles has trouble controlling his powers which forces other characters to save him and eventually ditch him when they go try to stop Kingpin. I can't stand the movie trope where an inspirational speech is made and then the person or people who hear the speech immediately become unstoppable or invincible. Miles doesn’t become invincible, but he starts doing a bunch of stuff he could not do before the speech because he was ready to take the leap of faith required to become a superhero. Since the movie is so good and so consistent, it’s easy for me to let it slide as just a minor annoyance.
The final act kept me fully engaged as the Spider-Gang takes down the Kingpin and they all return to their respective universes and Miles finally meets his roommate at school. If you haven’t seen this film, you need to stop what you’re doing right now and go see it. It’s the best Spider-Man movie ever and it’s tied with Incredibles 2 as my favorite animated movie of the year.
4.8/5 - Stop what you're doing and go see this movie!