The next greatest sequel is here, and it will be talked about for a long time. It is warranted.

Spider-Man has always been a beloved character for me. I grew up with the Tobey Maguire films and it become a staple of my childhood, but it was until 2018’s animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse did I feel like I had seen a perfect Spider-Man movie. It worked beyond just being an animated movie. It reached an audience made for kids and adults with the most impressive animated technology ever seen. While it may be too soon for me to say its sequel is better, you can certainly tell that the first film is no fluke.

Going into this, I’d say I did a good job of avoiding any spoilers, which added much more to the overall experience. The way the film sets itself up is very unexpected and ensures that this is going to be a different film than the last. Instead of focusing on Mile Morales, the attention focuses even more on Gwen Stacy this time around. This expands the themes explored, which I believe will relate to many others. The animation is great, and what I’d say stood out to me even more with this one is how they used style to reflect the emotion of certain scenes.

If I had to really be nit-picky about anything, I would say expectations compared to the first are quite different. This one does slow down and takes its time to develop its characters. I can see where people may argue about the long runtime due to this, but I think it actually takes care of its characters to make them feel more real beyond the animated medium.

Overall, this currently sits at the top of 2023 at the moment for me. These movies really shouldn’t work, and I don’t think I ever expected this series to be as successful as it is so far. I won’t get into much more to avoid any spoilers. I’m glad that the movie stuck the landing with its amazing cliffhanger and I am even more glad that we only have to wait until next year to see the finale.

VERDICT: 5/5 (Perfect)