**Does not contain major plot spoilers, only minor character references.**
Your window to see the recent Golden Globe winner for Best Animated Feature film released last month is narrowing, and I promise you, you don't want to miss it.
I'll admit I was a little skeptical about "Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse" when my boyfriend first showed me the trailer a few months ago. I thought, Oh great, another Spider-Man movie, and animated to boot. It's safe to say that we mostly associate animated films with children and family movies and being more juvenile. But after seeing "Spider-Verse" as a college student who has seen all the Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland Spider-Man movies, and even as a girl with a crush on Tom Holland, "Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse" is my new favorite Spider-Man movie.
When I told my dad that we should go see it as a family (honestly I've wanted to see it again since I stepped out of the movie theater the first time), he said he didn't want to because "it's a cartoon."
And it's a true shame to not see this movie because of a stereotype against animated movies. It might be animated, but it's also a lot more than that.
SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE - Official Trailer (HD) YouTube
This is more than another re-hashing of the Spider-Man origin story. The movie features a cool, diverse range of Spider-Men (including the protagonist, Miles Morales, as a black Spider-Man and Gwen Stacy as a female counterpart Spider-Woman). The unique and amazing animation style resembles a comic book come to life. It's a story about family, self-confidence and responsibility that doesn't need to harp on the iconic "With great power" quote to send a message.
It's also hilarious and all-around fun to watch. John Mulaney's Peter Porker/Spider-Ham and Nicolas Cage's Spider-Man Noir made me burst out laughing. The movie also isn't afraid to poke fun at its cinematic predecessors, because who couldn't pass up the opportunity to bring back this iconic Tobey Maguire Spider-Man scene?
For an extra laugh, I also recommend staying for the bonus scene at the very end of the credits.
The catchy soundtrack also stood out to me. Generally, I'm not a fan of the hip-hop/pop genre, but I downloaded the entire album from the movie the day after I saw it because I couldn't get the songs out of my head.
Of course, the film also contains a touching tribute to Stan Lee that fans need to see.
"Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse" won a Golden Globe for a reason. Don't hesitate to find out why just because it's animated.
