Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

 

Score:  B+

Directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson

Starring Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Brian Tyree Henry, Luna Lauren Velez, Oscar Isaac, et. al.

Running time: 140 minutes

Rated PG

Long Story Short:  Spider-Man leaps back into the fray, this time in animated form, in a sequel to 2018's Into the Spider-Verse.  Like that film, this one focuses on a theme of multiverses, where there's not just one Spider-Man but many.  We get to focus on Miles and Gwen, here, mostly, and their personal stories are well done.  While there's good action, too, the plot is just OK.  Put all that aside, though: the visuals alone are worth the price of admission, with dazzling color and thoughtful detail and styles.

More than a year after Into the Spider-Verse introduced the Spider-People of multiple universes, Miles (Moore) and Gwen (Steinfeld) find themselves alone again in their own universes.  The multiverse will not let them go so easily, however.  Gwen meets a new team of multiverse Spiders while battling a villain, and Miles confronts a different villain who can open portals at will himself.  The two good friends are joyful when they finally reunite, but circumstances are much different than when they last met.  Both are dealing with difficult personal problems at home as a result of their superhero activities, and both have urgent Spider-missions, ones that are not necessarily aligned with each other.  They must learn more about the wild multiverse they've become a part of, soon, though, and rely on both new and old friends to avert disaster.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is a solid, very entertaining sequel to the 2018 animated original film.  By far the best part of it is the astonishing visuals, though it is weighed down a bit by a too-familiar plot.  Although the style is much different, Across the Spider-Verse is just as jaw-dropping as the best Pixar animation.  While it mostly has a fairly realistic physical sense, the colors in particular are quite malleable and serve as the most interesting part of most of the film, whether through sheer beauty or emphasis of the emotional tone/mood of a scene.  It has a distinctive style throughout, but it also retains plenty of flexibility, too.  Just remarkable, and begging to be seen on the big screen.  There is plenty of action, of course, being a superhero movie, and the animation is both particularly appropriate for Spider-Man (with all his web-based "flying", "lassoing" and other acrobatics) and helps suspend your disbelief.  The action can go on a bit too long, and one particularly wild chase is a little overboard, but that's mostly quibbling - it's a lot of fun.  Speaking of too long, the film overall is also too long, even if for the noble intention of trying to pay as much attention to the personal parts as the action.

The characters and plot of Across the Spider-Verse are well-developed, although the results are somewhat mixed.  To start with, the whole multiverse concept is getting a bit tiring.  The current series of live-action Marvel films uses it as its main connecting theme; last year's Oscar winner Everything Everywhere... was built on it, and, of course, the 2018 animated original used it, too.  There was always going to be some element of the multiverse involved (Miles and Gwen had to get back together somehow!), but the film leans into it even harder this time.  Even the switch of focus away from the villain and onto the team of Spider-People - who ostensibly should be good but hide a more dubious goal - feels overly familiar.  This is made up for in good measure by a solid family story and structure for both Miles and Gwen - and in part, it's because we don't get the way-too-familiar Aunt May/Uncle Ben dynamic.  Miles, in particular, feels very well-rounded here.  An adult Peter Parker, voiced by funnyman Jake Johnson, is a bright spot again, basically just serving as comic relief (and now with baby in tow).  On the other hand, Steinfeld's Gwen and Isaac's Miguel grated on me a bit.  I think it's because they've both recently starred in live-action Marvel series, too, and their usual personas are on display.  Even though it's only their voices, I still felt like I was watching recycled roles.

***

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse vaults to the top of my superhero list for the year, thanks to Marvel producing - unprecedentedly - back-to-back disappointments (Ant-Man 3 and Guardians 3 - maybe it's curse of the 3s this year?).  It was a very fun time at the theater, even if I don't feel gushing about it.  That may in part be because my attention wandered a bit more than usual; and I haven't seen the 2018 original since it was in theaters five years ago.  Still, I highly recommend it (family-friendly, too!).  DC will have the next few cracks at the superhero genre, starting with The Flash.  I'll also be seeing another animated movie again, Elemental, quite soon - my first new Pixar in theaters since Toy Story 4 in 2019.  Hopefully the summer will bring more movie goodness!

* By https://twitter.com/SpiderVerse/status/1651254816025313281/photo/1, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=72536149