Review of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) by Mark H — 16 Jan 2019

I swore off animated movies. Having gone into a sugar coma while viewing the highly-regarded "Paddington 2" (2017), I vowed never again. In this case, I'm glad I broke the rules.

"Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" breaks plenty of rules on its own. Along the way, it offers a variety of pleasant surprises. There's a cameo by Stan Lee (creator of the Marvel Comics franchise) selling Spider-Man costumes and validating that we're all Spider-Man by gruffly confirming that his one-size-fits-all costumes fit everybody - at some point. There's Mahershala Ali (Uncle Aaron) not lighting up the screen with his presence, primarily because he's not on the screen. There's Liev Schreiber (Kingpin) showing his dramatic range by shifting from his dour, but excellent, role in "Ray Donovan" to Spider-Man's dour nemesis. In a total shocker, there's Nicholas Cage (Spider-Man Noir) appearing in an interesting movie. There's Hailee Steinfeld (Spider-Woman/Gwen Stacy) in another transformative role. There's Byron Tyree Henry as, wait for it, Jefferson Davis, the father of our Afro-Puerto Rican protagonist. It's all just weird and wildly wonderful.

The plot is also predictably bizarre. As part of his plan for world domination, Kingpin has built an atomic collider that inadvertently creates a rip in the space/time continuum. Our protagonist Miles Morales (Shameik Moore - 2015's "Dope"), a 16-year-old student at Brooklyn Visions Academy, is bitten by a mechanical spider. Soon enough, he explores his developing super powers and is out to thwart Kingpin. Because of the disruption in the space/time continuum, other Spider characters are able to come to his aid: the aforementioned Spider-Woman, Spider-Man (Chris Pine), Older Spider-Man/Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson), Spider-Noir (Cage as a black-and-white character in a trench coat), and, my personal favorite, Spider-Ham/Peter Porker (John Mulaney) who bears a striking resemblance to Elmer Fudd. Back to the plot: on the brink of world disaster, they collectively save the day.

Even visually, this film is disorienting. There is conventional CGI, Ben-Day dots (used regularly in vintage comic books), an anime character (Peni Parker, voiced by Kimiko Glenn), thought balloons, even written sound effects reminiscent of the old "Batman" TV series (1966-1968). Directors Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman and Robert Persichetti, Jr. have pulled out all the stops. It's all so bizarrely unique that Sony is reportedly trying to patent the processes used to craft these unique visual mash-ups.

If you are looking for a logical/linear story line or deep insight into the human condition, get serious. You really expected that from comic book characters?! But if you want a strange but wondrous adventure, in the immortal words of Steppenwolf (1968), "You don't know what/We can find/Why don't you come with me little (gender neutral pronoun)/On a magic carpet ride?".