Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Review: An Animation Achievement

comingsoon.net:

There are no words to describe how you’re going to feel when the credits roll in. You may feel sad that it’s over when all you wanted was to stay with these characters longer. You may feel happy because you just watched one of the greatest superhero movies in recent memory. No matter how you feel, you’ll be elated about Marvel’s new animated superhero film about Miles Morales/Spider-Man (Shameik Moore) going on another adventure across the multiverse. This movie is something special, and you’re going to have to see it to believe it.

This sequel to 2018’s splendid Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse had big shoes to fill. Its predecessor won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, so reaching the heights of something like that seems unattainable. The trio of directors on the original film are all replaced by Joaquim Dos Santos (Avatar: The Last Airbender), Kemp Powers (Soul), and Justin K. Thompson in his first directorial credit. The screenplay is written by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (The LEGO Movie, 21 Jump Street) alongside David Callaham (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Mortal Kombat). With this team onboard, they knew how not to disappoint.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse does to Into the Spider-Verse what The Empire Strikes Back did to Star Wars. It takes the characters that were set up in the original and expands upon them all, taking things in a darker direction while bringing in new characters. The film opens with more backstory for Gwen Stacy/Spider-Woman (Hailee Steinfeld). Her story was hinted at in the previous film, but she gets expanded upon with her upsetting relationship with her father. Although her backstory is familiar to fans of the Spider-Man character, it is always