Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse: The best, weirdest version of a familiar story

I was as skeptical about Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse as anyone when I saw the first trailer. The idea of building a movie around the lesser known Miles Morales Spider-Man was fine, but the idea of a movie where there are nine Spider-Men gave me flashbacks to Titus’s audition for the Spider-Man musical on that episode of The Unbreakable Kimmie Schmidt.

As I sit here writing this, mere hours from the first showings opening in theaters, I am pleased to tell you that I was wrong. Not only does the movie work, but it is so insanely different and original. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is easily the best animated movie of 2018, and it is unlike any superhero movie you have seen since Fox kicked this whole craze off with the first X-Men movie in 2000.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is the smart answer to the question “how many d*** Spider-Man movies do we need?” The Peter Parker of this film is the one of Sam Raimi’s films that starred Tobey Maguire. New Girl’s Jake Johnson may provide his voice, but when he recaps his most iconic moments (the upside down kiss with Mary Jane, saving a runaway subway car) and ridiculous flaws (the dance sequence from Spider-Man 3) there is no mistaking where he comes from.

The universe the movie takes place in is one where Peter Parker has died, but not before discovering a gifted kid from Brooklyn, Miles Morales, also has spider powers. I don’t want to give too much away, but as portals to new dimensions open, we get an entertaining introduction to four other spider people.

The difference between Morales and Parker are what set this story up. Parker is an extraordinary kid trying to rise above his ordinary surroundings. He may be a genius, but he still goes to a public school and comes home to a tiny house in Queens. All he wants is to get out and make something of himself.

Morales is a gifted kid with a scholarship to an elite boarding school in Manhattan. He may be from a Brooklyn apartment, but his day-to-day world has him living with kids that he can’t relate to at all. All Morales wants to do is go back home, or at the very least just fade into the background.

Miles’ universe very clearly is not our universe, and the filmmakers show that in genius ways. The ads we see for various products are not quite right. The big show on Broadway is the Red Man Group. Billboards for Koka Soda fill Times Square. It is almost like the minds behind this movie (which were also the minds behind the Lego Movie and 21 Jump Street) are answering anyone that asks “in what world is Spider-Man a black kid?” Well, in this one.

So rather than lay out a big recap go how we get from point A to point B, I’ll just say that Kingpin is the bad guy and he has a machine to open up portals to other dimensions. That is how all of our Spider-Heroes get into Miles’ world.

Now, let’s talk about who they are.

We have already discussed Peter Parker and Miles Morales. There is also The Amazing Spider-Woman or “Spider Gwen.” She is also a teenager, but she is from a universe where Gwen Stacey was the one bitten by a radioactive spider and Peter Parker was killed in a tragic accident. Then there is Peni Parker, a girl with a psychic connection to the genetically engineered spider controlling a superhero robot. Next is Spider-Man Noir, a 1930s private detective drawn in black and white and voiced by Nicholas Cage. Finally, there is Spider-Ham, a classic squish-and-stretch cartoon pig reminiscent of Porky Pig in a Halloween costume.

Yes, a movie with six different spider-powered heroes is nuts, but it is leaning into the absurdity and pushing the boundaries of just how nuts this movie can be that makes it so damn fun.

Each Spider-Person is animated in their own unique way.

Peter Parker is slick, CG animation. Miles Morales has a little bit of a street art look to him. Spider-Ham looks like a Looney Toons character. Peni Parker and SP/dr look like something out of a Dragonball Z cartoon. Seeing them all on screen together is jarring, but it works and it looks good.

Multiple Spider-Men from multiple universes really hammers the emotional parts of this movie home. We watch Miles Morales just starting his heroes journey as he is suddenly surrounded by five other versions of himself that are old pros at this hero thing. It perfectly captures the pressure of being a teenager and a superhero. When he isn’t in costume, Miles also deals with being the only black kid at his prep school. There isn’t any version of him that doesn’t feel lonely and out of place.

Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse packs an emotional wallop. It’s funny. It’s exciting. There’s a Stan Lee cameo that will bring a tear to your eye.

My initial impressions of this movie were so wrong and I am happy they were. Everything I thought would elicit eye rolls are what makes Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse the most exciting of all the Spider-Man movies.

Demetri Ravanos is a member of the North Carolina Film Critics Association and has reviewed movies for Raleigh and Company, Military1.com and The Alan Kabel Radio Network.