ANI-MOVIES, *Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse

Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse set up its own franchise separate from the MCU in 2018, so five years later this sequel exploded onto the screen getting more praise than the former film. Where several other Marvel properties have been dipping into parallel universes as part of larger storyline, Across The Spider-Verse goes the extra few light years while plunging into hundreds of alternate realities. This works as a great premise for a movie, although the drawback is that it is written to be the first of a two-part story, meaning that there is a noticeable amount of padding in it to fill out its 140 minute runtime. There is more focus on the primary characters' everyday lives which could work if they didn't insist on ramming a bunch of Star Trek technobabble down your throat even if you are a longtime comics fan.

Taking place over a year after the first movie, Miles Morales is fitting into his role as his universe's friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, even though a villain from his reality called the Spot is trying to use his ability to create holes in space so he can get revenge on Miles as he gained his power due to the battle at Alchemax in the previous film. Spot boosts his strength to where he can now make portals to other realities which gets the attention of a newly formed militia of Spider-Man heroes called the Spider-Society lead by the futuristic Miguel O'Hara, a hardcore leader who caused a universe to disappear after he filled in the place of his deceased counterpart. Gwen Stacy is part of the Spider-Society after being tutored by a race swapped Jessica Drew, both of which are the Spider-Woman of their own universes, and Gwen checks in on Miles trying to convince his parents that he is living up to his potential without revealing his secret identity. Gwen is actually in Miles' world to hunt down the Spot whose potential could cause a major cosmic disturbance. Miles is introduced to some of Gwen's fellow Spiders including Pavitir in India and the rowdy Spider-Punk as Spot causes the collapse of a bridge. That incident was an unavoidable point in time called a canon event that dramatically shapes that Spider-Man's destiny, but Miles prevented an event from happening by helping save Pavitir's girlfriend and family. This gets Miles in trouble with Miguel who warns him of the passing of his own father which is supposed to happen as avoiding it could cause its own dimensional distortion. Even getting this news from his mentor Peter B. Parker doesn't help Miles accept this and he goes on the run with most of the Spider-Society chasing after him from their citadel which acts as an access point to all other universes. Miles thinks he escaped back to his own world but was instead sent to the world the spider that bit him originated from where he is confronted by his equivalent who here is the Prowler, the supervillian identity used by the deceased uncle in his reality. The film ends on a big "to be continued" with Gwen assembling her own team of Spiders to save Miles and prevent Miguel's army from getting in the way.

Across The Spider-Verse does have in insane multitude of Marvel easter eggs with a nearly flawless blending of each reality's style including live-action and Lego figures, plus almost every previously animated version of Spider-Man. The mixed designs do not clash as they might in other animated productions and make it seem like a flowing comic book brought to life. As is this is the middle chapter of a planned trilogy, it somewhat struggles to bridge out its premise by giving more time to the Miles' personal relationships as some of their scenes go on longer than necessary no matter which reality it takes place in. Sony Animation has come a long way from when they were making Smurf movies, and this recent installment shows how far that is with this visually trippy experience which shines through brilliantly in a theatrical viewing.