Animated ‘Spider-Verse’ is full of delightful surprises.
Film thwips out welcome mat for cinephiles of all kinds
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 “Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse.” The brazen new action/adventure opening on Friday, Dec. 14, 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 boundary-stretching “Logan” and “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” are arguably the most important ones. “Spider-Verse” begins in the universe of Miles Morales, a “new” Spider-Man in comic books, who has arguably supplanted Peter Parker as the most popular wall crawler for 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 middle-class Brooklyn — with a rip-in-the-space/time-continuum plot that brings other comic book Spider-people into the action. An aged, potbellied 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 spirited 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 mashup 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 self-conscious. That spirit of 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 past few years (“Spider-Verse,” “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 “Spider-Verse” filmmakers have worked on related projects. The risk-taking can be seen everywhere, from the use of half-toned panels that simulate comic book 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, “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” offers mainstream moviegoers an overwhelming feeling of optimism. If this kind of risktaking and artist-driven creativity can exist in Hollywood’s biggest moneymaking genre, then our superhero movie future is filled with hope.
An incredible number of characters, plot turns and side plots are woven into the film’s goes-by-like-nothing 117-minute run time.