Fantastic animation, great character moments, and a good amount of humor create one of the best Spider-Man experiences in years. It’s the sights and sounds that really set the mood here. The animation is unique, sometimes trippy, but is almost like a character of its own. While the character designs are kind of simple, there’s a lot of work making the faces show a range of emotions. The film also recreates the visuals of comic books, from using the comic books themselves, to using word balloons and having some sound effects be written on screen. I also really enjoyed the soundtrack, as it complimented Miles and his world pretty well. The story starts of unfocused. There’s a pretty long stretch where you have no idea where this adventure is going. Once they establish the stakes, things move pretty fast. Before all this, they do an excellent job of establishing Miles and his family. They are the source of some pretty emotional moments throughout. While Peter Parker is fleshed-out a bit, the remaining Spider-themed characters tend to be pretty one note. The villains are mostly bland, and just there for the heroes to fight. Even the main bad guy, The Kingpin, is a bit lackluster. He has a strong story, but it’s just barely touched on. I wasn’t much of a fan of his overly bulky design, and the looks of his enforcers were hit and miss. The fight scenes could’ve been a bit better, but the finale was exciting.
**** out of *****