It’s the “The Empire Strikes Back” or “The Godfather Part II” of animated films: a much-anticipated sequel to a movie that felt like it could never be improved upon.
Those sequels are titles that often follow the question, “What’s a sequel that might be better than the original film?” “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” will now be a viable answer, as well.
The movie has big shoes to fill — the first installment was critically acclaimed, made more than $380 million worldwide and won an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. And after the last few years of superhero movies, it felt like enough was enough. But never doubt the joy that seeing a bunch of Spider-Men pointing at each other can bring you.
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What is the main plot of ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse?’
Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore), a Brooklyn teen, is balancing high school, his secret identity as the neighborhood’s friendly webslinger and missing his Spider-Buddies from other universes. His parents (Academy Award nominee Brian Tyree Henry and television star Luna Lauren Velez) are balancing steering their kid in the right direction and not pushing him away.
In another universe, Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) is coping with the loss of her best friend Peter Parker, who her cop father is set on avenging. (Spoiler alert: He thinks Spider-Woman killed Peter, but little does dad know, Spider-Woman is actually his little girl).
She is given the opportunity to help other Spider-People by a retro-styled, motorcycle-riding, pregnant Black Spider-Woman (voiced by Issa Rae), giving her a way out of her universe.
Gwen enlists the help of her friend Miles as he’s battling a cow-print villain named The Spot: a scientist whose skin is now covered in interdimensional portals who vows — like most villains do in these comic books — to bring down Spider-Man.
The two chase Spot (voiced by Jason Schwartzman) through the multiverse, picking up other Spider-People to assist them, until they reach the Spider-Society, run by Miguel O’Hara (voiced by Oscar Isaac).
This is when the audience erupted.
The Spider-Society is chock full of Easter eggs for the casual fan and the hardcore nerd. Old famed sketches of the superhero, different artistic styles from the comic’s past and even just funny variants like a Spider-Rex (a Tyrannosaurus Rex that’s actually Spider-Man) all interact in a web-shooting world.
This is the joy of the Spider-Man franchise. It’s always been a little silly and playful, but still tragic and dramatic. A character can be a Lego variant, and also be someone who wouldn’t exist if not for his beloved uncle dying.
I won’t give it all away, but the Spider-People team up, uncover secrets and swing through the multiverse in jaw-dropping animation style.
It might be easy to think that jumping from universe to universe, with characters resembling the same basic premise of Spider-Man, would be hard to follow. But producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller intelligently use varying animation styles.
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Gwen Stacy’s world is set to impressionistic watercolors, very soft and long strokes, where Spider-Man India’s world, Mumbattan, is vibrant and jumps off the screen with movement and color.
Each of these dimensions adds depth to characters that the audience may only see for a few minutes at a time. By actualizing and differentiating each universe, all the Spider-People we meet feel like they were plucked out of their own fully developed world, not just created to serve the main characters.
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It’s everything Marvel isn’t right now
Unlike seeing a second or third (or fourth in some cases) installment in a Marvel movie, you don’t have to have seen Into the Spider-Verse to be able to keep up. The movie starts with a nice, quick, “Here’s what you missed on. …” That is one of its strengths.
At this point, one would have to watch 32 Marvel superhero movies in order to be caught up for the next one coming out in November. If you’re not a diehard, that could seem daunting. With superhero movie burnout on the rise, the Marvel films are almost set aside for superfans now.
So seeing the first movie summarized before the plot got started put the audience in comforting hands almost to say, "Anyone is welcome here.”
The movie is emotional without feeling manipulative. It’s progressive without feeling heavy handed. It’s dazzling without feeling like it was made completely on a computer, despite literally being made on a computer!
‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” is exhilarating, touching, creative and a shoo-in for Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards again this year.
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'Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse' 5 stars
Great ★★★★★ Good ★★★★
Fair ★★★ Bad ★★Bomb★
Director: Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson
Cast: Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Oscar Isaac
Rating: PG for thematic elements, some language, and animated action violence.
How to watch: In theaters Friday, June 2.
Reach the reporter Amanda Luberto at aluberto@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter@amandaluberto.
