I loved this movie, it was just damn great.
- Nailing the characters: The movie really nails its teenage characters, especially that "manic energy" that teenagers often have. Gwen goes from hating her dad to hugging him in seconds, there is a scene at the end that visually shows all of Miles' fears and anxieties (my absolute favorite scene) but then a few minutes later he confidently comments to his mom that he's not scared of anything anymore. The characters felt authentic.
- The visuals: I know not everyone likes the visual style of the movie, but I appreciate that they are making it a style all its own, and it also really helps keep the dimensional travel zany and neat.
- An infinite multiverse kept contained. I've commented before that Marvel has let the multiverse get away from them, going on about places and people I don't give a damn about. Sony's take here manages to find the balance. Sure there are multiversal stakes....but in reality its the story of a kid trying to save their father. So its resonates....and it works.
- The amazing battle scenes: For anyone who says animation is silly and only prefers live action, they need to see the battles in this movie. They are able to capture the speed and agility of Spiderman in a way no live action could hope to dream of, its just frikkin amazing.
The remaining question.... does the Plot actually work?
The one real question mark to me (to be answered hopefully in teh next movie) is whether the fundamental plot really....works? We are told by Miguel (the "head" spiderman of the multiverse organization) that if Miles succeeds in saving his dad, he could threaten his world....possible even multiple worlds. And this doesn't seem to be an idle threat....we are shown evidence on India Spiderman's world that the threat is quite real.
So while we want Miles to win....should he?
Perhaps Miles fails...or later realizes he shouldn't win and that the others are right. That would seem a letdown from all the big rebellious energy built up and doesn't seem that "heroic" (effectively learning sometimes you just have to lie down and take it).
Perhaps Miles wins and saves his world without major consequence. But then that begs the question, is Miles REALLY the only spiderman who would go to that lengths to save his loved ones? Every other spiderman (of which there are hundreds) is just a lesser Miles that was duped into submission, proving Miles the "real" spiderman? Seems to go against the theme of Spiderman. Further, we see at the end several Spidermen joining Miles' team..... but the implication of that is also a bit weird. Take the Spider-Byte girl, you get the impression this is not her first rodeo on the multiverse stuff. So she has bought what Miquel has sold..... except not anymore? So she believed Miguel so strongly before that she was willing to let loved ones die.... but now Miles has convinced her "nope we don't have to do that anymore". That's a VERY big switch, same with Gwen or Peter B. Gwen you could understand, she is the new recruit, a teenager, and pretty much in love with Miles. Peter B though is a lot more rational, is he REALLY switching gears on this one?
The third option (which to me feeeeels like what they are going to go for) is Miguel is a lot more insidious than he seems. Perhaps he's lying, perhaps manipulating the spidermen for some other purpose. That is probably the best way to have your cake and eat it too, though again it begs the question of how Miguel convinced ALL these other spidermen to sit down and let loved ones die, and only Miles goes full rebellion?
