Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is an animated superhero film from Sony Animation Pictures directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson.

Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) is struggling to balance his daily life with his life as Spider-Man, causing tension with his parents. Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld) arrives to track a villain known as the Spot (Jason Schwartzman) who jumps across multiverses. Miles follows Gwen into the Spiderverse where they fail to stop the Spot, but Miles saves a civilian who is friends with the Indian Spider-Man (Karan Soni). This angers Miguel O’Hara (Oscar Isaac) who has set up a base in his universe for the Spider-Verse. Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson) arrives and explains that Miles’ father will die and he cannot stop it or his whole dimension will die. Miles has to make a choice and it could cause his family to hang in the balance.

The first movie was a spectacle. The animators, writers, and directors took risks and ultimately it paid off. They tried to duplicate those risks here, but unfortunately, it ended up being more of the same. Yes, the movie did very well at the box office, riding the coattails of its predecessor, but it just did not capture the magic of the first one.

While the first movie was about Miles learning to be a hero, this one decided to make it an allegory about identity. Miles struggles with who his parents want to be, what the other Spideys want from him, and ultimately, what he wants as his identity. This made the stories feel very juvenile in their themes as virtually all of the characters, sans Spider-Punk, are struggling with this in a way. No one is there to ground Miles, not even himself, and it becomes a metaphor that disrupts the action and adventure of the story.

Had the film simply been about Miles rectifying his mistake with the Spot, and thus earning the respect of his peers, I could see it working. This is not what happened though. While as visually stunning as the first movie, this one relied too heavily on its visuals instead of proper storytelling. Scenes and sequences that should have been kept short and sweet are expanded far too long. For instance, the chase sequence shown in the trailer could have been the length of the trailer, but it goes on and on to the point of feeling burdensome to watch. You were ready to move on, but Sony was not, unfortunately.

I cannot fault the voice cast. Everyone did an excellent job in their roles and worked well with what they had. No one stood out, other than Josh Keaton having a cameo as the Spectacular Spider-Man. They should have worked Drake Bell in there, despite his issues.

Moving on, another issue was they were putting down fan-favorite versions of Spider-Man to uplift the characters like Miles, Spider-Punk, and Spider-Byte. Peter Parker was a joke, traipsing around in a pink robe and the butt of a joke in almost every scene. Ben Reilly was an overly emotional wreck. The real Jessica Drew got less than a cameo. There is no need to bash favorite characters to uplift new ones. I do not know why studios continue this. It is insulting and pandering.

Honestly, why not make Reilly the Spidey that Miles connects with? If you read his adventures from the 90s, you know he struggled with being a Spider-Man in a world where Peter retires. This could have made a good connection, but the lazy writers did not bother to research the very characters they were expanding on.

Miguel O’Hara was done the dirtiest. While it is true that Spider-Man 2099 was more of an anti-hero Spidey, he was never the cold, humorless scold that the producers made him in this film. At times, he felt downright abusive in his behavior. Curious that one got uplifted over the other. O’Hara is half-Mexican, half-Irish. Is that the clue?

Because of the runtime, it also makes you bored with the multiverse. I do not go as far as some people who say the multiverse is lazy writing. I think it depends on the individual movie, but Marvel, whether it be Disney or Sony telling the story, has beat that dead horse. Time to move on to greener pastures.

Bottom line, Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse is visually stunning but it is a bloated mess with overused tropes and character assassination that wears you out by the time the credits roll.

PARENTAL CONCERNS: Violence, Rude humor

FAVORITE QUOTE: You say, “The fate of the multiverse,” and my brain dies.

Check out the trailer below:

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