Watched this in a double-feature at a drive-in. The other film was The Super Mario Bros. Movie, so this was a refreshing pallet cleanser. Unfortunately, the poor audio mixing made it really hard to hear much of the movie. On the plus side, I had the tastiest cheese fries I've ever had! It also started raining which made the fries taste extra good for some reason?
Firstly, the animation is BOUNDS better than the first movie, which was already revolutionary, Somehow, this manages to take that and improve on it! The fight at the beginning with the Leonardo da Vinci-style Vulture is one of my favorite animated fights now. They really went all-out with the stylization this time, as they really made characters like Pavitr Prabhakar and Spider-Punk stand out visually. The colors go HARD, especially during the very end and the Gwen-father scenes.
Secondly, I must address my few complaints with the movie. 1. Miles feels... off throughout. They didn't seem to know quite what to do with his character in this, so he got sidelined by all of the new characters and Gwen. He has a good fight-chemistry with The Spot, but that plot gets tossed out the window halfway through, making it unsatisfying. 2. None of the characters from the original movie other than Miles, Gwen, and Peter B. Parker have a real role to play. I think Penny gets a few lines, but she had the most, and it was definitely around 10 at most. (I especially am upset at this because the Nicolas Cage Spider-Noir was my favorite character in the first.) 3. It feels very jumbled. They had at least 5 directions they were trying to take the story that all got their own segment in this. They sporadically pick up plotlines and set them back down, which leads to an inconsistent viewing experience. The first film is largely consistent: very focused on Miles developing into Spider-man and stopping Kingpin. This one has the Gwen-father drama, the idea of the Spider-verse, Miles continuing to grow into Spider-man, Miles trying to stop the Spot, Miles trying to escape from Spider-man 2099, Miles grappling with the betrayal of his friends, Miles getting trapped at the end, the consequences of the Spider-verse's collapse, etc - all making it a constant effort to keep up with. 4. The ending. Not a major problem, but I've never been a fan of cliffhangers where you actually have to wait a long period of time to get resolved. EXCLUDING mysteries. This isn't much of a mystery- we know Miles will escape somehow.
Thirdly, the score and sound design (NOT the mixing) are great. And hey, the songs weren't Sunflower! I liked Annihilate to a degree. The song during the fight with Vulture was creative.
Fourthly, Jason Schwartzman plays the sexiest character in the film. Most of the rest are children, so this is probably why.
Fifthly, I like the worldbuilding. I just think there's too much for one film. I really think a lot of my problems will be solved by the sequel to this.
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