Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

There was a lot of hype about this film, which surprised me because when I first glanced at the trailer I just dismissed what I saw as a direct-to-TV film. The hype gave me pause but at the same time made me wait so that it had time to settle into reality. Coming to it outside of the hype and awards, I was open to what to expect, and was pleasantly surprised. What pleased me was how creative it was in several areas of production. In terms of narrative it took the risk to be silly with its alternative Spider-Men, but was able to balance that with an engaging and reasonably serious core narrative. It managed to be funny, fun, engaging, and enjoyable all the way through.

Animation wise it mixed many styles and approaches very well. Even when it felt OTT with the visuals, it still somehow worked and I didn't feel beaten down or tired as sometimes can happen with visual overload. The overall design of the film added to this, with good use of music, shot framing, and animation to make it feel very cool and fluid throughout. Production-wise, it felt like it "got" the sense of humour of the script and made that work more than it otherwise would have done. Voice performances also seem to get this, and everyone plays their characters well.

Overall, it is creative, funny, engaging, and exciting for those that get into it and accept it on its own terms.