Amazing!: 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse' is a Burst of Creativity

Are we ever going to get tired of Spider-Man? In just over 15 years we have witnessed four different cinematic incarnations of the friendly neighborhood superhero. The new animated feature Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse proves that we aren't even close to finished with web-slinging adventures. In fact, comic book geeks, cinephiles and kids all over the world are declaring this to be Spidey's best adventure yet. After seeing it for myself, I nearly agree with them.

The film follows Miles Morales, a teenager dealing with typical teenage problems (friends, parents, adjusting to a new school). However, when he stumbles upon a gang of evildoers and happens to get bitten by a radioactive spider in the process, Miles suddenly finds himself in the middle of a plot involving multiple dimensions colliding with one another. Miles and the various Spider-Men (and one Spider-Woman) from these alternate realities must now team up to save their worlds. Can Miles find the courage within him to become the new Spider-Man?

I should say first of all that the animation is phenomenal, giving us a style that looks somewhere between rotoscope and stop-motion. The result is a unique look that is both visually dazzling and often very funny. The film doesn't succeed on animation alone as the story is very appealing on its own as well. With characters and a plot that can easily appeal to all ages, this film is the very definition of "crowd-pleasing." I still don't think it's my favorite Spider-Man film (that would be Sam Raimi's 2002 film), but Spider-Verse contains enough wit and imagination to make web-heads everywhere cheer. — Forest Taylor

Directed by: Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman // Written by: Rothman and Phil Lord // Featuring the voices of: Shameik Moore, Jake Johnson, Hailee Steinfeld, Mahershala Ali, Brian Tyree Henry, Lily Tomlin, Zoe Kravitz, John Mulaney, Kimiko Glenn, Nicolas Cage, Kathryn Hahn, Liev Schreiber and Chris Pine // 117 minutes // Rated PG