Film: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

GENRE: Animated Action
RATING: PG for animated violence and some language
RUNTIME: 2 hours and 20 minutes
PLATFORM: Movie Theatre
STARRING: Shameik Moore (The Get Down, Into the Spider-Verse)
Hailee Steinfeld (Hawkeye, True Grit); Oscar Isaac (Moon Knight)
DIRECTORS: Joaquim Dos Santos (Legend of Korra)
Kemp Powers (Soul); Justin K. Thompson (newcomer)
WRITER: Phil Lord & Christopher Miller (Lego Movie, Clone High)
Dave Callaham (Expendables, Wonder Woman 1984, Shang-Chi)
PLOT: Miles Morales finds himself in the Multiverse with a team of Spider-People who are concerned that the Multiverse could collapse.

FULL DISCLOSURE: Liked the first one but not a fan of multi-verse.

STORY STUFF: While there are a number of fun moments and great scenes in this film, it just gets too busy in the middle. There’s more broodiness in the beginning this time around with both Gwen and Miles and their respective parents. Once Miles enters the multi-verse about an hour into the film, it just gets chaotic. There’s a chase scene that is well animated but I always wonder how the person getting chased know where to go in this new environment. Some of the jokes are pretty funny especially when all the Spider-People are given vague information. It’s also important to note that this is a two-parter so don’t expect things to wrap up just yet.

ACTING STUFF: All the voices work well. They are full of emotion and fit their animated avatars. I had a hard time placing Jason Schwartzman’s (Rushmore) voice for some reason. I also missed Nicholas Cage and John Mulaney from the first film.

ARTISTIC STUFF: The animation is incredible. There is so much texture and stylized art, it is a treat to watch. I do find they spend an awful lot of time showing things from an upside down perspective. It’s trippy but overused at times.  

VERDICT: Three and a half stars out of five
SEE IT IF: You’ve seen the previous one and like multi-verse stuff.
UPCOMING REVIEW:  The Flash?; Indiana Jones 5