I grew up with Spider-Man. I was one of those kids that was obsessed with superheroes. I remember being six years old, and my mother took me to go see the PG-13, Sam Raimi film, Spider-Man. To be honest, I’m quite surprised to this day that I was allowed to go to a more grown-up film at such a young age. But I enjoyed every minute of it, until the very end when Spider-Man gets his ass whopped… I cried my eyes out in that movie theater. So maybe it got too violent at times.

• First Big Moments

 The 2000s was such a significant time for Spider-Man; The first movie was in 2002, followed by 2 sequels. Videogames were blowing up in popularity, with consoles like the Xbox, and the PlayStation, being able to handle bigger, and better designed games. Marvel Comics was making some huge, and groundbreaking Spider-Man stories. These early years set a great foundation for a beloved superhero, that everybody knows about. 

• Previously to Now

Back in December of 2022, I was surprised when I saw the first trailer. It felt like the first movie came out a while ago. Well, it was a whopping 5 years ago! Due to the pandemic, and other claims of more time needed, the production and release of Across the Spider-Verse was delayed multiple times. Once from April to October 2022. Then again from October to June 2023.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is such a hit of Spider-dopamine. This movie is a nostalgic town for all the people who have consumed Spider-Man through all these years. There are so many references and little snip-its of previous Spider-Man media. The games, the movies, and the comics especially. It was great to see them expand the amount of Spider-People from the prior film. I loved seeing some personal favorites of mine, the Scarlet Spider, PS4 Spider-Man, and many past animated Spider-Men. 

• Animation

The animation is well done. It looks even better than the first movie, and I love how they change the style of the animation in each universe. We are shown more characters with much more diverse animation styles and it is really interesting to see how they change the art style, keeping the whole movie fresh and different in many ways.

This movie throws a lot at the audience, but there are slow moments of heartfelt emotion that hit home very well. Just to point out a couple without spoiling anything; We see Miles’ relationship with his parents more, especially with his mother, and Gwen’s life in her universe with her father as well. 

I only have one complaint. I feel like because there is so much given to the audience at once, it comes across as a little too wacky or goofy at times. Usually, when an action scene occurs in this film, it’s hard to follow everything we are seeing, but that may be on purpose so that we have rewatchability, maybe? Either way, only a couple of times, I felt like it was coming across as a little silly or cheesy. 

• Conclusion

This 2-hour and 16-minute film keeps you strapped in the whole time, feeding you many laughs and heartfelt moments. Who is this movie for? It’s for anyone who enjoys a superhero story with many callbacks to prior Spider-people. Take the whole family or take yourself out for an enjoyable experience. As long as you can keep up with the amount of animation thrown at you, you will be delighted with what this film has to offer.