Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse review: So much to see, so much to feel in this special superhero movie

The Spider Team: Peni Parker (Kimiko Glenn), Spider-Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld), Spider-Ham (John Mulaney), Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), Peter Parker (Jake Johnson), Spider-Man Noir (Nicolas Cage)

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (PG)

Directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman

Starring (voices): Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Jake Johnson, Mahershala Ali, Brian Tyree Henry, Lily Tomlin, Luna Lauren Velez, Zoe Kravitz, Liev Schreiber, Kathryn Hahn, Kimiko Glenn, John Mulaney, Nicolas Cage

Caution: Some spoilers ahead!

What an absolute treat. I took my 5-year-old nephew to see it which is a great companion for a movie like this. It's loaded with spectacular action sequences, a full range of emotions and a unique animation style that looked marvelous on the big screen. It's hard to say who enjoyed it more.

Miles in his custom spider suit.

I've always been a fan of Spider-Man so I was excited. I had no idea just how different this take on Spider-Man was going to be. The story deals with other dimensions and universes which seemingly gives the filmmakers free range on where it could go. It is a phenomenal ride from start to finish and is easily one of my favorite movies of the year.
It has tremendous action like a beautifully animated chase battle through the woods against Doc Ock and others. There's a lot of humor like the fact that Miles' first spider suit is store bought and doesn't quite fit or the hilarious scene in which the scattered dimensions create a glitched fire hydrant sculpture causing a bystander to comment "I think it's a Banksy." But mainly it has a lot of heart which is most on display in the complicated relationship between Miles and his father.

The plot is elaborate so bear with me. Miles Morales (Moore) is a teenager adjusting to a new boarding school trying to live up to expectations of his parents (Henry and Velez). He deals with common teenage problems like fitting in with friends and finding your purpose in life. What makes him special is he becomes the latest person to be stung by a radioactive spider which gives him classic Spider-Man skills as well as some new ones. He meets that spider in the sewers of New York City while accompanying his Uncle Aaron (Ali) who takes him to a wall to teach him graffiti. Miles enjoys Aaron's company even if his police officer father doesn't like them hanging around each other since Aaron has a criminal past.

The larger than life Kingpin (Liev Schreiber).

In the sewers is where Miles also stumbles upon the real Spider-Man defending the city against Green Goblin and Prowler who are working for Wilson Fisk aka Kingpin (Schreiber). Kingpin has created a particle accelerator which allows access to parallel universes where he can reconnect with his deceased wife and son. Things don't go as planned and the accelerator inadvertently creates a multiverse loading Miles' world with multiple Spider heroes including an 40-something, grumpy Peter Parker (Johnson), Spider-Man Noir (Cage), Peni Parker (Glenn), Spider-Ham (Mulaney) and Spider-Gwen Stacy (Steinfeld).

Now Miles is tasked with disabling the accelerator in order to defeat Kingpin and also deliver the other heroes back to their dimensions. The disgruntled, overweight Spider-Man becomes a reluctant Mr. Miyagi to Miles who wants to learn how to use his new spider skills in order to save the city from the accelerator's destruction.

The plot is quite complex and it might take a while to wrap your head around it. But it is so creative that it becomes easy to immerse yourself in this world and simply enjoy the ride. The animation has a look and feel I've never experienced before. If you have a chance, I'd recommend catching it before it leaves the theaters. That is certainly the best way to see this amazing example of action animation.
It's such a cool take on the classic superhero story with several twists and turns along the way. The most unique aspect is the collection of different Spider heroes. Peni Parker is a Japanese-American teenager who controls a spider-robot of sorts. Spider-Man Noir is a kind of like a Dick Tracy era Spider-Man and Spider-Ham has a lot in common with Porky Pig. All of these characters have appeared in Spider-Man comic books that were adapted to make the Spider-Verse movie.
It was an extreme joy and is certainly worth a second viewing since there's so much to see it's hard to take it all in on one try. I still have more 2018 movies to catch up on but this will certainly end up high on my list of favorites of the year.