Why Some People Think Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse Is Totally Overrated

Since Tobey Maguire uttered the words "Who am I? I'm Spider-Man" in 2002, the Marvel character has been a mainstay of our movie screens just as much as in the comics. Since then, we've received a wide array of live-action interpretations, but it wouldn't be until 2018 that a new breed of Spider-Man would crawl its way into our cinemas. That came in the form of Sony Animation's "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse." The film not only brought Spider-Man into a theatrically animated format for the first time but also introduced movie audiences to Miles Morales, the popular alternate Spidey created in 2011 by Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli. Along his side would be Peter Parker, Spider-Gwen, Spider-Noir, Peni Parker, and Spider-Ham, who must team up to stop an impending threat to all their realities.

The film is not only loved, but practically worshiped by audiences, critics, and the industry alike. It remains the highest-rated "Spider-Man" movie on Rotten Tomatoes with a 97% Tomatometer score and won for best animated feature at the Academy Awards (in a rare victory over Disney and Pixar nonetheless). Filmmakers and actors alike from Barry Jenkins to Rian Johnson and even MCU Spidey Tom Holland himself sing the movie's praises. Currently, two sequels are in development for a 2023 and 2024 release, respectively. 

With such overwhelming love, it seems as though it's impossible to find a single soul that disliked "Into the Spider-Verse." Well, some fans would say otherwise.

In a thread explaining why they feel "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" is overrated, original poster u/Vlokop wrote, "It's not a bad movie, it's just okay. The characters are fine, the music isn't that good, the plot is kinda predictable but okay. The way it's "filmed"...is supposed to make it look like a comic book but is just annoying." Fans had a lot to say regarding that post. u/hyperion_x91 commented that they felt the numerous characters muddled the story, particularly the more outlandish Spider-Men such as Peni Parker and Spider-Ham.

Others commented on the film's animation. u/Weve_GotDodgsonHere complained, "The frame rate of the film is just bad on the eyes." Similarly, u/Xerokine recalled, "I like it but I remember thinking that I should go tell someone that the video wasn't working right, little did I know at the time that was by design and really was my only problem with the film." Made to appear as though it came from a comic book, the film uses a choppier frame rate and 2D effects. And while most praised its style that continues to influence animation (via IndieWire), it would make sense that the look wouldn't fly with everyone.

u/Bigcheez07 agreed but offers a unique perspective. "I agree, it's harder to appreciate all the subtleties in it without having insight into animation and computer graphics," they wrote. "if you have worked on an animated project you can at least appreciate the risk they took by doing it in that style." There's no denying that the crew at Sony put their hearts and souls into something that, love it or hate it, is like nothing we've seen before.