A movie about Spider-Man would ordinarily get a huge publicity boost by the media and get a lion's share of the movie theaters on its release. However, for this one. it faced a DC behemoth event called "Aquaman" that generated so much more buzz and anticipation, so this Spidey pic would most likely be second priority on almost everyone's list. Being an animated film (instead of live action) about a new Spider-Man (who was not Peter Parker) could also be contributing reasons to its lesser popularity.
The new Spider-Man in this origin film is Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), another high-school kid, of mixed African-American and Puerto Rican parentage. He got bitten by a radioactive spider and suddenly acquired spider powers he cannot control at all -- the typical story we know. Soon after, Miles encountered the real Spider-Man, Peter Parker (Chris Pine), while he was fighting the humongous villain Kingpin (Liev Schrieber) and his nefarious plot to open up the space-time continuum with a nuclear collider.
It was this collider that allowed Spider-folk from various other dimensions to crash into Miles' dimension to join Miles in his adventure and help him in his mission. They were: an older, paunchier Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson), the cool Gwen Stacy / Spider-Woman (Hailee Steinfeld), the cartoonish funny Peter Porker / Spider Ham (John Mulaney), the futuristic anime girl Peni Parker (Kimiko Glenn) and her robot spider, and the grey fedora-wearing Spider-Man Noir (Nicolas Cage).
Fans of the original Spider-Man movies will also see updated versions of Peter's loved ones, like Mary Jane (Zoe Kravitz) and Aunt May (Lily Tomlin); and enemies, Green Goblin and Doc Ock. There is of course an extended cameo of the recently departed Stan Lee, in his first posthumous onscreen appearance. This became a sobering moment of bittersweet remembrance for the creator of Spider-Man. We will also meet Miles' family, namely police officer father Jefferson Davis (Brian Tyree Henry), nurse mother Rio (Luna Lauren Velez) and the beloved uncle Aaron (Mahershala Ali).
However, I am sure hardcore fans of the Spider-Man comics and videos will know so much more about the various little references made about the other Spider-Men from other dimensions than casual fans who only heard about them now. I won't be surprised if the complex artwork of this film contained so many hidden Easter eggs which will only make sense to serious fans and make them very excited, including that after-credits extra scene.
The story and script was by Phil Lord, the same witty writing genius behind "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" (2009) and "The LEGO Movie" (2014). For me, it was a bit slow in the beginning set-up, introducing Miles and his family dynamics. However, after Miles got bitten by the radioactive spider, the whole film accelerated into high gear that never let up in terms of humor and excitement, with nostalgia thrown in for good measure.
The eclectic styles of the artwork blazed into life during the fast and frenetic action scenes, merging the hand-drawn comic book images (with thought bubbles, spider sense tingles, spelled out sounds) with very dynamic. occasionally psychedelic, computerized wizardry. The editing of the imagery with sound effects and energetic music soundtrack was flawlessly done. The voice work was also topnotch, especially upon finding out who was voicing who. This is definitely in serious contention of being the Best Animated Feature Film of the year come Oscar time. 9/10.
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