Essentially, “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” operates as an origin story for Miles Morales, another version of the superhero Spider-Man. He allows the superhero's persona to be seen in a different light, though his backstory is similar to that of Peter Parker's. Miles, in this movie, is a teen living in New York City. In his city, there already exists Spider- Man — the aforementioned Peter Parker. However, due to several circumstances, Miles has to pick up the mantle from Peter. With the help of five other Spider-Men from different dimensions, he must stop the main villain from threatening the existence of all of their universes. The first thing one should note about this movie is its unique art direction. Each Spider-Man within the cast comes from a separate universe, and this is illustrated in the film through the individualized animation and art styles used for each Spider-Man. Due to the similar universes of Miles, Peter B. Parker (not to be confused with Miles' Peter Parker) and Gwen Stacy, they're all stylized and animated similarly. However, they do have their own respective quirks. The other half of the Spider-Man cast — Peni Parker, SpiderNoir and SpiderHam — have very distinctive styles that show how different their universes are compared to Miles'. The reason for this decision, as well as the overall style of the movie, was a “[celebration of] its print origins with bold graphics and mainstays of comic- book style” as reported by The New York Times. The animation is beautiful to look at. Even in the scenes presented in the trailer, one can see the quirkiness of the animation. Movements are somewhat stilted despite the smooth animation presented, but rather than take away from the visual aesthetic, the unique animation enhances it. Through these stilted movements, it creates what can only be described as a comic book coming to life, which is true to the movie's origins. Miles Morales was a innovation to the Spider-Man lore, and the movie's innovation in the animation field reflects this. Not only is the animation beautiful, but the soundtrack is phenomenal. One of its tracks, “Sunflower,” performed by Post Malone, jumped to #1 on Billboard Hot 100 singles a few weeks after the movie premiered. In a purely subjective sense, I believed the movie breathed innovative art. Both in its animation choices, as well as its way of blending the soundtrack into scenes, it was such an artful experience. Though I was attracted to the movie by its unique style of animation and the bits of music I heard in the trailer, I ultimately stayed in the theater for the story the movie wanted to tell.
Cast:
- Shameik Moore: Miles Morales
- Hailee Steinfield: Gwen Stacy
- Brian Tyree Henry: Jefferson Davis
- Luna Lauren Velez: Rio Morales
- Jake Johnson: Peter B. Parker