I mean come on! How is this film’s crazy art and animation style even real? I sat there with my jaw on the ground just thinking about organising every frame of the film. Is it overstimulating? You bet your Spidey Senses it is but is it worth it? Yes!…this is the best Spider-Man movie.
Let’s go over this one last time. Last we saw Miles Morales he had just destroyed the super collider with his new spider friends, specifically his love interest Spider-Woman aka Gwen Stacy. Now the other Spideys have returned to their dimensions and both Miles and Gwen are lonely until Gwen teams up with a team of Spidey’s from other dimensions to stop the mysterious dimension breaking rifts. Unfortunately though Miles Morales isn’t allowed to be part of the team and I won’t say anything more than that.
It is safe to say that Into the Spider-Verse changed animated movies, just look at the upcoming TMNT movie in a similar art style. It was to be expected that Across the Spider-Verse at least matched the style but directors Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K Thompson have raised the stakes even more by making what I can only describe as the most beautiful and artistic American animated movie to ever exist.
Narrative wise Across the Spider-Verse sticks the landing like Peter Parker landing on the side of an American Flag Pole. The whole story is iconic and perfected, the film is just a constant escalation making your heart beat faster with Miles. Right when you think there is time to breathe or the credits may roll the film keeps swinging.
It will be a tad unsatisfying story wise if you were hoping for a closed up ending but I couldn’t be more excited for the sequel and I love me a direct opening for the next film. It is immensely impressive that the film is able to spin so many spider plates at once. The sheer amount of Spider people and references in the film is just nuts!
Everywhere you look there is a piece of Spider-Man’s comic, film, TV and gaming history, everything is celebrated here and none of it is cringe worthy. Each character’s different art style, motion and voice acting is perfect and the melding of all the characters in one shot is a sight to behold.
For the film to have the amount of heart and emotion it has as well is just another way Across the Spider-Verse knocks it out of the park. The relationships between Miles and his parents, Gwen and her dad and Miles and Gwen are filled with moments of happiness, love and sorrow. It is the type of emotion that will make you hug your loved ones to make sure everything is alright.
An extra mention has to go out to the art style for Gwen Stacy. In Into the Spider-Verse the focus, art-wise, was on Miles Morales but Across visits so many different dimensions and art styles, many of which you wouldn’t expect at all. I found that the most impressive thought was Gwen Stacy’s dimension. The pure emotion captured through the colours and the way walls, rooms and even objects are drawn is beautiful enough to put on display in my house. Every frame of this film is a work of art, whether it be intricate close ups or city-wide shots that look like giant beautiful murals.
Lastly, I went in not knowing who the villain was. I would advise you do too. It is a pleasant surprise and something I didn’t really see coming. After Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and even Everything Everywhere All at Once, we have seen a lot of multiverse and multiverse villains. Across the Spider-Verse takes the multiverse idea and turns it up to 11 and the villain is funny and then really scary, their art style becomes nightmarish as the film goes on, but it’s really cool as well!
I think we all know the score that I’m about to say for this film and I don’t think I’ve ever actually given a Spider-Man film this score before. I’ve reviewed five Spider-Man films over my last six years of being a film critic, that’s only Spider-Man’s solo outings, and I can easily say without a doubt that this is not just the most fun you can have with a Spider-Man film, Across the Spider-Verse is the most beautiful, hypnotic, mesmerising and web-binding American animated film ever. It deserves all of the accolades it will receive and it is unlike anything you have watched before. Across the Spider-Verse is the new definitive Spider-Man movie, it’s two and a half hours full of web slinging fun and heart pounding/heart skipping moments. I personally cannot wait to watch it again and to watch the sequel too.
Score: 5/5 of the most beautifully drawn Webslingers.