So I’m trying to decide whether Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is better than, worse than, or equal to Homecoming, but in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t really matter. While I have reservations about giving modern-day Sony’s movie division any credit or praise, a good movie is a good movie, and Miles Morales’ big screen debut is more than simply “good”.
It’s worth watching for its presentation alone -- an animated movie that doesn’t feel the need to play with kid gloves by default. Granted there are times when the movie gets in its own way with possibly too much style -- during my viewing I thought a few times that it’d be better if they toned the AV down by 10-20% -- but it’s a critical hit more often than it misses. Kingpin is the definition of an “absolute unit” design-wise, and seeing some of this stuff in motion makes me hungry for more. Not just a sequel, but for other movies to be emboldened to give the style (or something like that) an honest try. Like, Disney, maybe mimic this instead of another live-action remake?
The funny thing about the movie is that, while Homecoming stepped away from the origin story affect, Spider-Verse revels in it -- to its benefit. Fair move, considering that we’re following Miles now. Still, even if you’re wary of another superhero origin story, there’s more than enough meat on this movie’s bones to keep you satiated. Shout-outs to this movie for making parents that feel like real people; this version of Jefferson isn’t just trying to run for Jesus like Spider-Man PS4’s Jefferson, and --
Wait, I feel like I should be talking about something else right now. Oh, right. Smash Bros. Let’s talk about it one more time…with a focus on World of Light. Because I beat it, and talking about that is…well, it’s necessary, I think.
