Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Into the Spider-Verse (2018) broke a set of habits about what animation can look like, and did it with one idea: make the film look like a comic. Miles Morales is a high school student in Brooklyn. A radioactive spider bites him and he gains powers. At the same time a machine opens other universes onto his own and Spider-People from other worlds fall into his city. What was done visually is technically new. Sony Imageworks laid hand drawing over the 3D image: animators drew facial lines and motion lines individually. A custom shader was written for the Ben-Day dots of old comic printing, so the shadows are made of dots. The cleverest choice is in the frame rate. Early on Miles moves on twos, one new image every two frames, so he is less fluid; his inexperience is written directly into his motion. As his confidence grows he begins moving on every frame. Character development is conveyed through animation technique rather than dialogue. It won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, beating Pixar that year. The music and the sound of the city are part of the storytelling; Brooklyn is not a backdrop. It runs 117 minutes. Good for: animation, superheroes, and anyone looking for something visually new. Fine with children. Less good for: the visual density is very high and may be difficult for viewers sensitive to flashing light. There is a death.