Thompson) and writers (David Callahan and producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller), “Across the Spider-Verse” bombards the audience with a dizzying array of visual gags of the blink-and-you’ll-miss-one variety.Īgain, that worked better in a more compact package, and there’s a more-is-less quality to the psychedelic assault, especially when contemplating the movie’s appeal to younger kids. The larger game, however, soon presents itself, as Gwen gets recruited by an elite squad of spider-folk who essentially police the multiverse, under the fierce leadership of a character voiced by Oscar Isaac.Īssembled by trios of directors (Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Miles’ arc begins innocently enough, as he comically battles a semi-inept, dimension-hopping villain known as the Spot (Jason Schwartzman) while rushing to make an appointment with a school counselor. He’s clearly pining for her, while grappling with the challenges of juggling school, his suspicious parents (Brian Tyree Henry, Luna Lauren Velez) and sneaking off to do super-heroic deeds. Yet that makes “Across the Spider-Verse” in some respects play like the protracted setup for what potentially promises to be another more satisfying sequel.Īlthough the focus is again on Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore), this “Spider-Verse” gives near-equal time to Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld), one of the other spider-folk that he encountered in his first foray into parallel universes.

Given the first movie’s Oscar-winning success, the producers have taken the practical step of positioning this as a franchise that’s going to be around for a while. The movie also falls victim, somewhat, to the blessings and curses associated with the multiverse, which offers infinite possibilities but also the occasional sense that there are so many permutations none of them matter all that much.

While the movie remains a dazzling experience in terms of what the animation achieves, it indulges in what feels like sensory overload, seeking emotional heft in ways that slow down the action. Coming almost five years later, “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” spins a much denser web, padding on about 40 minutes that make this exercise heavier and considerably less nimble. The stunning visual palette of “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” soared in 2018, combining that eye-popping animation with an abiding love of the comics and plenty of goofy humor.

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