James Proclaims!

Spider-Man movies are, as a general rule, fairly popular with audiences and critics alike. But as good as many of the live-action movies have been, according to Rotten Tomatoes, the highest rated cinematic outing for the webslinger is the animated movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Some three years before the excellent Spider-Man: No Way Home brough the multiverse and simultaneous incarnations of Spidey onto the big screen, the concept had already been explored rather wonderfully in this 2018 effort.

If the title suggests the film is going to be high-concept and fairly niche, then the reality is an entertaining, action-packed and often hilarious roller-coaster of a movie that more than deserves the accolades it has received.

Any movie that can credibly introduce the bizarre character of Spider-Ham without losing an ounce of credibility is definitely punching above its weight.

Score for Christmasishness

This is not a Christmas movie but one of the multiple incarnations of Spider-Man is shown to have released a Christmas album and we get to hear his version of ‘Spidey-Bells’ playing in the background during a fairly pivotal scene in the plot. The song is reprised during the end credits. There’s also an action scene which involves a snow-man, which wouldn’t necessarily have induced me to include this movie on its own merits but it adds to the case that there is a certain level of Christmasishness to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.