I’m usually not interested in animated movies (or television shows), which I will be the first to admit is an unfair bias, but the Spider-Verse movies are so highly regarded I had to check them out. The first one came out 5 years ago and I liked it at the time but honestly have not revisited it. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to appreciate the new installment having not fully remembered the first film and not being a huge fan of animation. But this movie absolutely blew me away. 

The animation in these movies is actual art. You don’t have to be a fan of animation or even superhero movies to appreciate the artistic and visual achievements of this film. Nothing looks like these movies. The style is distinct to the franchise and it accomplishes that by not just pushing boundaries but exploding them. If you’ve seen enough movies, you can tell a Pixar animation style from a Disney animation style from a live-action CGI fest. These movies use it all. Every world has its own look and feel. They’re pulling from animation styles across the board and also from art in general. There are scenes that look like unfinished sketches, scenes that look like modern, abstract shapes, and scenes that look like water colors with the paint still dripping. And each style is deployed strategically to emphasize the emotion and story in that specific moment. The actual plot of the film could have been bad and I would have been so distracted by the images on the screen I wouldn’t have noticed. But luckily, that is not the case.

Like the first film, the follow-up has both humor and heart. There are constant jokes flying around, in the dialogue, in the animation, and in the sound; the movie is extremely fast-paced and, if you blink, you could miss something. But between the laughs and break-neck action sequences, the film makes time to slow all the way down and find moments of genuine emotional connection between the main character, Miles, and his parents as well as Miles and Gwen, his best friend and potential love interest. The true power of these movies is how they really have something for everyone no matter where your interests lie. 

If you’re a real die-hard fan with an encyclopedic knowledge of the Spider-Man universe, this movie operates on a whole other level. There are a million tiny easter eggs and references woven throughout the film. However, the reason the movie is so popular is its accessibility. You could get the references or miss every single one and still enjoy the movie; your past knowledge doesn’t make or break the experience (an issue that Marvel keeps running into these days). Either way, every choice in the film is based on something real from the comics and is so intentional. 

The one really fan service-y thing is the way that the concept of “canon” plays into the plot of the film. “Canon” is the material accepted as officially part of the story by its fan base. As someone who listens to a ton of podcasts about specific universes (mostly comic book storytelling but also fantasy like Harry Potter), I hear this term a lot. Certain things are canon and must be honored in any iteration of story in that world (like Harry Potter’s parents being killed by Voldemort). Others are not canon and usually mean if a story includes them, it will not be accepted by the fanbase as legitimate (like if there was a reveal in a story that Harry’s parents are still alive and just abandoned him to move to France). Following the Harry Potter example, there is much debate in that fandom if the stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is canon or not canon. Do with that what you will.

Without revealing too much about the plot of Across the Spider-Verse, their incorporation of the idea of canon storytelling, particularly in superhero and comic book mythology, is a genius way to approach multiversal storytelling and also show fans that the creators see and hear them. They know the conversations that are happening online in the fandoms and wink at fans through this concept while also leaving the door open for them to make decisions that might not be “canon”. I love how they took a very online, fan-based idea and built it into the story of the film.
In a time when it feels like every day someone is talking about how terrible a certain movie looks because of the CGI or the lighting and they had to rush to complete it and this was unfinished, Across the Spider-Verse feels like a breath of fresh air. They really took their time to make this movie visually stunning and it absolutely paid off. I highly recommend this movie to anyone. I don’t think you even necessarily have to watch the first film, Into the Spider-Verse. but it will probably help with some context. This movie also does end on a cliffhanger as it was always intended to be a Part 1 in conjunction with the final film of the trilogy, Beyond the Spider-Verse, which is currently slated to come out in March 2024. I never thought I would be counting down the days to an animated movie, but I can’t wait to see how this story wraps up and live in this beautifully crafted world a little bit longer.

2023 Count: 9 seasons, 29 movies, 1 special