After having seen so many super-hero movies (especially Spider-Man movies) already, I did not expect to be impressed (never mind blown-away) by this movie. It not only needed to bring something fresh to the well-trodden Spider-Man story, but in order to be visually impressive, it also has to compete with Pixar’s animation benchmark and other live-action blockbusters like its cousins from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Firstly, the script is phenomenal, taking a tongue-in-cheek perspective on the genre (the Spider-Man origin story is a hilarious and creative running gag throughout the movie), balanced against a wonderful character story involving a new kid, Miles Morales, latest to be bitten by the fateful radioactive spider. He’s got family issues, personal insecurities, and struggles with the psychology that all nascent superheroes deal with. There is a really big central twist to the story (slightly revealed by the movie title) whereby various “Spider” folk from other alternate realities join Miles in his universe to stop the evil Kingpin from destroying New York. It’s still a super-movie, so good naturally triumphs over evil, but it is also a fresh take on things, and dressed in immersive and dizzyingly amazing visuals.

I read that the animation was done first as normal 3D animation, then each frame was painstakingly drawn over to add the visual flair that enhances the unique look of this movie. In many ways, it looks and feels like a comic book, but we viewers feel like we’ve been dropped into the comic book universe rather than just looking at it from the outside. The three-dimensional depth of the scenery and New York cityscape (not to mention the kaleidescopic colours and geometry of the other dimensions that appear later in the movie) really brings you into the movie’s world. The animation is top-notch, portraying all kinds of high and low emotions on characters’ faces (including occasionally behind a spider mask), even blending in a light touch of cartoonish flavour. An extra kudo goes out to the animators who paid close attention to the details reflected in the surface of Spider-Man’s costume-eyes (and the expressiveness of his human eye that peeks through when part of that lens gets broken) — wow!

Despite its technical and artistic excellence, this movie is also such a fun adventure movie. There are many hilarious lines and scenes (good slapstick is hard to resist), but the story of Miles Morales is centre stage. Not only is he struggling with his new superpowers (which the other spider-men help with by giving him guidance and wisdom from their own experiences), but also a bit of a bumpy relationship with his father. One of the common elements of Spider-Man movies is that they all try to find the heart and character inside the web-slinging, evil-fighting hero. This heartfelt central story (and there are a few more interesting twists to it) may be a way that your average non-geek movie-goer can enjoy the film, but there are also tons of elements to make this movie a comic-book and genre fan’s delight. Starting with the comic-book look, to the use of voice-over narration (that often pops up as comic-style text boxes floating on screen), to the balls-out action scenes of super-hero vs super-villain battles, to many of the meta aspects that will make a genre fan smile (for example, one of the spider-men comes from a “film noir” comic book universe, so he’s always depicted in black and white and doesn’t even perceive colour).

In an over-saturated genre (superhero movies), and a highly-skilled milieu (animated movies), this movie still is able to stand above the rest to be one of the best of both those worlds. It’s definitely a surprise to me, and it’s possibly the best movie I’ve seen this year — it’s definitely my favourite. (5 out of 5)