Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse: another visit to Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman’s animated film confirms that it has, essentially, two things going for it: a story that resonates and a visual style that feels like the most appropriate way to tell something originated in comic books. It is more than enough. Yes, it is yet another origin story (or half a dozen), but the relationship between similar characters, with similar life stories, allows for touching moments; it’s also a plus that this character (in most of their versions) is always very sympathetic, and the main version here, in particular, is even more so. And yes, this is yet another presentation of the ubiquitous concept of multi-verse, but this one is more imaginative than most.

The voice work is top-notch: Shameik Moore is great as Miles Morales, and Hailee Steinfeld, a fine Spider-Gwen. There is a smorgasbord of other voice performances (chiefly, Jake Johnson as a depressed version, Liev Schreiber as the main villain, and Nicolas Cage as a BW version) and it’s hard to find a bad one among them. Visually, the film is a blast: Spider-Man has a natural dynamism and fluidity to his movement, and the directors manage to convey that while also respecting the (naturally static) aesthetics of a comic book, mostly through the smart use of texture, speech balloons, and multiple panels. The use of colour in the climatic action sequence is unlike most, and absolutely justified.

Read what I wrote before: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse