A dazzling new ‘Spider-Man’ is in town
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Rated: PG for frenetic sequences of animated action violence, thematic elements, and mild language. Running time: 117 minutes. ★★★★ of 4
If there’s something the latest generation of moviegoers is missing out on, it’s the element of surprise.
Extended previews, social media and global marketing campaigns ensure that we’re all warned of everything in advance. It’s not unusual to find a movie teaser trailer that shows the last scene of the film it’s trying to promote. (Looking at you, marketing team for “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom”...)
So what a joy to get blindsided by “SpiderMan: Into the SpiderVerse.” The brazen new action/adventure is everything we should want from both our superhero movies and animated films. It rewards the most dedicated fans of both. It throws out a welcome mat for newcomers.
And in a genre with scores of franchises that span multiple universes, it carves new real estate. “Black Panther” and “Wonder Woman” may be the best mainstream superhero films of the past two years. But along with “Panther,” the boundarystretching “Logan” and “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” are arguably the most important ones.
“Spider-Verse” begins in the universe of Miles Mo- rales, a “new” Spider-Man in comic books, who has arguably supplanted Peter Parker as the most popular wall crawler in the current era of young readers.
The filmmakers balance the Morales origin story — son of an African-American cop and Puerto Rican hospital worker, growing up in middleclass Brooklyn — with a rip-in-the-space/time-continuum plot that brings other comic book Spiderpeople into the action. An aged pot-bellied Peter Parker is a cynical mentor. The Looney Tunes-esque “Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham” joins the action from his more cartoonish plane.
Directors Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman weave together an incredible number of characters, plot turns and side plots into the film’s goes-by-like-nothing 117-minute run time. The voice casting is inspired throughout, particularly comedian John Mulaney as Spider-Ham, and Lily Tomlin as a spir- ited Aunt May — morphed by the alternate timelines into sort of an Alfred the Butler role.
But there are plenty of emotional moments, and strong personal interactions, sometimes in the middle of the dozen or so satisfying action scenes. The old Spider-Man teaching the new Spider-Man how to swing is a rousing mash-up of film and comic book visuals.
“Double-tap to release, and thwip it out again,” Parker tells Morales, as the comic book word “thwip” follows the pair through the woods, with Dr. Octopus and a cadre of laser-firing mercenaries in pursuit.
Dr. Octopus is a female scientist in this version; the film is consistent in its diversity, but never selfconscious. That spirit of all-inclusiveness extends to the world-building and character design. While it’s not reflected in the Academy Awards nominations, some of the best production design of the last few years (“SpiderVerse,” “Coco,” “The Lego Batman Movie”) has appeared in animated movies.
The new “Spider-Man” is executive produced by “The Lego Movie” and “21 Jump Street” directors Christopher Miller and Phil Lord for Sony Pictures Animation, and many of the “SpiderVerse” filmmakers have worked on related projects. The risk-taking can be seen everywhere, from the use of half-toned panels that simulate comicbook pages, to the constantly shifting fourth wall. The characters seem to be addressing the audience, even when they’re not.
Besides the huge smiles on your faces, “SpiderMan: Into the SpiderVerse” offers mainstream moviegoers an overwhelming feeling of optimism. If this kind of risk-taking and artist-driven creativity can exist in Hollywood’s biggest money-making genre, then our superhero movie future is filled with hope.