Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse Review - 9 Ups & 1 Down

Ups...

9. The Stunningly Inventive Animation

As if the trailers didn't make it clear enough, this is one of the most visually enticing and creative animated films in recent memory.

To look at it and know that its budget was a fairly modest $90 million - that's roughly half your typical Pixar blockbuster - is absolutely mind-boggling, because the complexity and ambition of the animation suggests something far pricier.

Directors Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman present a uniquely heightened style that at once pays tribute to its comic book origins and employs state-of-the-art animation to make the characters as expressive and fluid as possible.

The third-act finale in particular delivers some of the most kaleidoscopic visuals you'll see in any movie this year - especially an animated one - and with the depth of the images and constant planes of movement, it feels like a film that might actually be worth splurging on the 3D treatment for.

There are more realistic-looking animated films out there, but few have committed so confidently to such a bold and unique aesthetic. Prepare to be wowed. The 4K Blu-ray of this thing is gonna shift units.