Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse movie review

MOVIE TITLE: Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse

RATING: PG

LENGTH: 1 hour 57 minutes

Movie Review Mom GRADE: A

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

It’s so great to have a PG movie we can take our kids to!
Lots of violence (it’s a superhero movie, after all!), but none of the action results in gory, brutal, Rated-R deaths.
No profanity. Yay! Thank you Marvel!
There is a moment when Miles calls his dad, but then changes his mind and hangs up. I wish our teens would confide in us more. That open communication really begins when our kids are young. Even if your child shuts down, keep trying!
Some Spanish is spoken without subtitles.
Perfect timing for Christmas presents!

IN A NUTSHELL: The beginning of the movie shows the words “Approved by the Comics Code Authority” on the screen. It’s an association that really does exist and an appropriate stamp of approval on this movie, which is absolutely fantastic and one that comic book fans are going to love!

It has already been nominated as Best Picture Animation for a Golden Globe. Yay!

THEMES:

“You can’t think about saving the world. You have to think about saving one person.” – Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson)
What kind of person do you want to be?
Expectations
“No matter how many hits I take, I always find a way to come back.” – Spider-Man
“We all make choices in life.” – Jefferson Davis (Brian Tyree). One of the strong themes in the movie is that we are the ones to decide who we are and how we live our lives.
The importance of family.
“We all have powers of one kind or another.” – news reporter

THINGS I LIKED:

It felt like I was reading a comic book and really had the spirit of Spider-Man. Complete with thought bubbles and words that described sounds and actions, it had the magic of a real comic book superhero.
It focused more on Spider-Man as an actual superhero and lesson on Peter Parker’s personal drama.
The casting was wonderful. I loved the brooding voice of Nicolas Cage as the Spider-Man Noir especially. Jake Johnson was perfect as the sweatpants wearing Peter B. Parker (so funny) and I loved Lily Tomlin as sweet Aunt May. I didn’t even recognize Chris Pine’s voice! (I love him. Those blue eyes!) Other voice talents include Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali, comedian John Mulaney, Kathryn Hahn, Zoe Kravitz, Liev Schreiber, and Shameik Moore.
I always look forward to seeing what clever cameo Marvel is going to put Stan Lee in, so I was curious if he would appear in this movie. (We miss you Stan!) I was thrilled to see him as an animated comic book owner! It was perfect and awesome! This was the last voice recording he made before his death.
So much laugh out loud humor. Loved it!
So many awesome, little details. “Trust Us Bank.” Ha ha
The shoulder touch. Perfect.
People will really get a kick out of the space/time/dimension aspect of the story.
Very colorful.
Clever references to former Spider-Man movies.
Despite the many different Spider-Man characters, the movie is coherent and smooth. Impressive.
I loved Miles’ character arc and that the movie took its sweet time to develop his story and accomplishments. Teenage years are rough and you really feel for him. Penny Parker tells him, “It’s nice to know we’re not alone.” So true.
The animation was very good and required 140 animators, the most Sony Pictures Animation has ever used.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

* I’ve seen sooooo many Spider-Man movies that I wasn’t really looking forward to seeing yet another one, but I absolutely loved this! It felt like a real celebration of Spider-Man.

If you haven’t seen any of the former Spider-Man movies, you’ll miss out on a few jokes.

FUNNY LINES:

“This is a pretty hardcore origin story.” – Spider-Man Noir (Nicolas Cage)
“What are you? Some kind of silly cartoon?” – Scorpian “You got a problem with cartoons? Ah, did that feel like a cartoon?” – (Peter Porky after he beats him)
“Dad, you’re old.” – Miles Morales (Shameik Moore)
“Your shoe’s untied.” – Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) “I’m alright. It’s a choice.” – Miles (Shameik Moore)
“That’s all, folks!” – Peter Porky (young kids won’t catch that clever reference.)

INTERESTING LINES: