This is the most exited I have ever been to write a review. First, it is the only time I have ever seen a special sneak preview of a movie before it opens to the general public. Second, I get to inform everyone they are in for an amazing surprise.
As soon as I saw the first trailer for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, my spidey-senses started tingling. It looked like a complete cash grab aimed at younger audience. I figured it was going to be another example of a straight-to-video quality movie that was thrown up on the big screen for a few weeks just to milk every penny they could from parents looking to kill some time on a cruddy winter's day. I also knew that as the father of two geeky kids, I was going to have to take one for the team and accompany them to this oversized commercial.
Then I started watching more previews and reading a little about the premise of the movie. My attitude changed and I had high hopes that this would be an actual story and entertaining movie.
Wow was I wrong!
This is not simply an entertaining movie. It is a spectacular super hero origin story that included actual character development and emotion filled scenes that made the audience tear up only to be saved by a hilarious joke just in the nick of time.
Spider-man Noir is actually funnier than Spider-Ham.
Although I did a little research before setting my expectations, I clearly didn't do enough. If I had, I would have realized that the screenplay was written by Phil Lord and Rodney Rothman. Some of the movies these guys have worked on include: 21 and 22 Jumpstreet, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The Lego Batman Movie, and The Lego Movie.
This team is quite experienced in two things: making people laugh and telling The Hero's Journey. Ultimately, that is what a super hero origin story should be... an entertaining version of a timeless theme (so screw you Bill Maher for minimizing Stan Lee's contribution to culture.)
Not only is Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse an excellent version of The Hero's Journey, it is incredibly funny. Part of the problems with the DC movies is that they take themselves too damn seriously. Although comic books and the movies based on them may be rich stories filled with life lessons to help enlighten younger audiences (screw you again Bill Maher) they are centered around people who run around in tights, capes, and masks fighting mutated Scorpions, super-humans and evil scientists. If you don't take a minute to laugh every once in a while, it seems absolutely absurd. These writers included so many jokes and Easter eggs that I simply could not keep up. It was sensational!
All of the billboards seem to be some sort of Easter egg. These are not the best. I want to save those for when you watch.
If you need more evidence that this was not intended as the cash grab I had originally assumed it to be, take a look at the cast. The producers brought in real actors whose voices matched their characters perfectly! The voice actors included:
Shameik Moore (The Getdown)
Jake Johnson (New Girl)
Hailee Steinfeld (Pop star)
Brian Tyree Henry (Atlanta)
Mahershala Ali (Recent Oscar winner for Moonlight)
Lily Tomlin (For you young people, she is one of the Grandmothers of comedic acting and a former Oscar nominee)
Nicholas Cage (Oscar Winner)
Kathryn Hahn (SNL alum and Bad Moms)
Liev Schreiber (Ray Donovan)
Chris Pine (Captain Kirk himself!)
And this isn't even counting the cameos...
What I expected to be a cheap television-quality 88 minute long commercial for whatever product it was launching, turned out to be one of the best cartoons I have ever seen and one of my top 10 favorite movies of 2018. The 117 minutes I was treated to, were simply not enough. The second the movie ended, I could have desperately wanted to watch the movie again.
While Venom missed its chance to properly use music to accentuate the action scenes, Into the Spider-Verse made the soundtrack an important part of the story telling. The music perfectly matched each scene and included both old and new hip hop. I am so sick of Post Malone... yet his song somehow worked in this movie.
If you watched that video, you also caught a glimpse at how incredible the animation was. I honestly think I could have simply watched this movie in complete silence (or with really cool Industrial or techno music playing). The animation was done by ARTISTS. If this movie wasn't their masterpiece, I don't what possibly could be. With a title including "Spider-man", an excellent story, talented cast, and great music, the producers could have easily skimped on the animation and used the standard computer generated images that have become cliche. But they didn't. They took a chance and used some techniques I had never seen before. Not only did they take great pains to capture the feel of a comic book come to life, the colors and style were spectacular! This was ART (screw you Bill Maher)!
This movie also included Stan Lee's finest and most profound cameo. I could have watched it just for that. Thank you Stan Lee.
There is a post credit scene that is both exciting and HILARIOUS! My son could not get over what was teased. It is definitely worth your time to stay through the cool animated credits.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is by far the best stand alone Spider-Man movie ever made. It is intelligent, emotional, exciting and hilarious... just like Spider-Man. My entire family loved it! We can't wait to see it again.
One of the reasons I want to see this film again is because it was packed with so many Easter eggs that I couldn't keep up. I did catch a shout out to Shaun of the Dead that made me chuckle but I was too distracted by the incredible story and action to look for Easter eggs (that rarely happens).
However, the main reason I want to see it again is to chronicle all of the life lessons contained in this movie. If a kid does not walk out of this film inspired... then they are probably a teenager and they think everything sucks. But even moody teens can find something of value in this... because the hero is just like them.
Some of the unforgettable lessons include perseverance, keeping promises, remaining loyal, being brave, taking a leap of faith, WGPCGR and most importantly...
"That person who helps others simply because it should or must be done, and because it is the right thing to do, is indeed without a doubt, a real superhero." Stan Lee
Geeky Dad's Movie Guide
None needed. If you like superheroes and have a soul, go see this freaking awesome movie ASAP!!!!!