Movie Review: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Movie Review: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse                                                                        12-28-18

Peter Parker (Jake Johnson) always thought he was the only Spider-Man, but when he gets sucked into a vortex, he ends up in an alternate dimension in which a different Peter Parker dies at the age of 26 during an intense fight with the Green Goblin. Peter meets a teenage Afro-Latino trainee Miles Morales (Shamiek Moore), and when more portals open up, they encounter Gwen Stacy/Spider-Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld), Spider-Man Noir (Nicolas Cage), the anime-influenced Peni Parker (Kimiko Glenn) and her robot boyfriend, and Peter Porker/Spider-Ham (John Mulaney). Together, they have to stop the broad-shouldered Kingpin (Liev Schreiber) from building a device that will destroy all the Spider-Men/Women's worlds.

Has it finally happened? Did Sony Pictures Animation, a Razzi-winning studio that has never met the quota of Disney, Pixar, DreamWorks, or even Blue Sky, finally make a good movie besides Surf's Up? One that actually might be better than both Disney's and Pixar's features for the year? It shocks me, but yes. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is probably the best animated film of the year with a paper-thick story, likable characters, and a visually appealing 2.5D animation style that has only been experimented with Disney (on the short films Paperman and Feast).

The Spidey gang clinging to the ceiling, trying to avoid getting caught.

I have never read any of the Spider-Man comics, and I only saw one movie, but I had enough general knowledge on Spider-Man to know what to expect.

I honestly have nothing negative to say about this movie, and this is coming from the same company as The Emoji Movie! In conclusion, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is a film that ranks among the best that 2018 had to offer for animated movies, ranking among Incredibles 2, Ralph Breaks the Internet, and even though I haven't seen it yet, Isle of Dogs.

However, I have a warning for those who want to see the film in theaters: While 'Spider-Verse' is rated PG, the film is aimed at a teen demographic, so there will be some violence, swear words, character deaths, and strong thematic elements.

Rating: 4 stars out of 5.

Animated Movies Throughout the Years: 1998

Animated Movies Throughout the Years: 1998
In memory of anime legend Isao Takahata.

In May, Warner Bros. Feature Animation released their second film after Space Jam,
Quest For Camelot. While ridiculed for being a Disney knockoff, I give it kudos for
having a Warner Animation princess before Starfire (from Teen Titans), Princess Kayley.

June saw the release of Disney’s first movie to be animated solely at the Florida Studio, Mulan.
While it got great reviews, it wasn’t as successful at the box-office as previous hits like Aladdin
or The Lion King. To me, Mulan is a forgotten gem with vibrant animation, a compelling story,
catchy songs, and a brilliant score from the late Jerry Goldsmith.

October saw the release of DreamWorks’ first collaboration with Pacific Data Images
(PDI for short) Antz. It’s a bit different from later DreamWorks movies because there’s
a good amount of innuendo and some foul language.

November had two animated movies that year. The first was The Rugrats Movie, in which
the popular cartoon babies made their big-screen debut. This movie introduced Tommy’s
new brother Dill Pickles, who would eventually become a regular character in the TV series.

The second was A Bug’s Life, Pixar’s follow-up to the hugely successful Toy Story. While not as
good as Toy Story, A Bug’s Life has breathtaking animation and likeable characters. It’s also a
favorite of my mom’s.

And last, but definitely not least, in December, DreamWorks released their first true animated feature The Prince of Egypt. It told the story of Moses using both hand-drawn and computer animation in
ways never before imagined. The film got really good reviews, earned over 200 million dollars
worldwide, and won the Oscar for Best Original Song. That's all I have to say for this week's Animated Movies Throughout the Years! Tune in next
week when we talk about animated movies from 1999, in which Disney released their final film in the Disney Renaissance with Tarzan, Brad Bird made his feature film debut with The Iron Giant, and the toys came back to town with Toy Story 2.

2019 in Animated Features

Well, you know the old saying. 'Another year over, and a new one just begun'. John Lasseter, co-founder of Pixar and chief executive of both Disney and Pixar, now no longer works for either companies. In November 2017, he was accused of doing something unmentionable, and took a six month leave. In June 2018, Lasseter appointed Jennifer Lee, screenwriter for Wreck-it Ralph and Zootopia and director of Frozen, as the chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios, while Pete Docter, director of Monsters Inc, Up, and Inside Out, oversees Pixar. Not to mention that Ed Catmull retired from both Disney and Pixar. On a more positive note, Don Bluth finally returns to Disney after four long decades.

Don Bluth (right) with veteran Disney animator Mark Henn (left)

and an anonymous guest (middle).

Anyway, let's see what 2019 has in store for us in animated features!

In February, Emmet, Wild Style, Batman, Unikitty, and the rest of the LEGO gang return for the highly anticipated sequel The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part. In this film, a war has raged on against the Master Builders and the Duplo aliens. A mysterious figure in pink captures Emmet's friends and brings them back to her home planet, and now it's up to Emmet to save them.

Also in February, another highly anticipated sequel will be released, How To Train Your Dragon 3: The Hidden World. In this film, Hiccup and Toothless discover a new land inhabited by undiscovered dragons, including a female who bears a resemblance to Toothless. However, Grimmel, a dragon poacher, won't rest until every Night Fury is dead, and he plans on killing Toothless. I just hope this film lives up to its hype.

In March, Nickelodeon will release their first CGI movie since Rango, Wonder Park. It will be co-produced by Illion Entertainment (not to be confused with Illumination Entertainment), the same studio behind Planet 51.

In April, Laika will release their fifth feature film, Missing Link. In this film, a scientist named Lionel Frost meets and discovers the Missing Link between man and ape. Lionel trains Link to behave like a man and plans to bring him to his absent-minded explorers. I just hope the film will do better at the box-office than Kubo and the Two Strings did, which unfortunately tanked at the box-office.

In May, Shaun and the Flock will return for another feature film, Shaun the Sheep 2: Farmageddon. When an alien with amazing powers crash-lands near Mossy Bottom Farm, Shaun the Sheep goes on a mission to shepherd the intergalactic visitor home before a sinister organization can capture her.

There will be two animated movies in June. The first will be The Secret Life of Pets 2. Louis CK will not reprise his role as Max, the dog in the picture above: Instead, Patton Oswalt, the voice of Remy in Ratatouille and Nom Nom on We Bare Bears, will voice him.

The second will be Pixar's final sequel until further notice, Toy Story 4. In this film, Bonnie adds a new toy to her collection named Forky. The Toys embark on a road trip and discover how big the world is for a toy. I'm honestly not that impressed so far with the story, and I think Forky looks scary.

In August, the famous flightless pig-killing birds will return for The Angry Birds Movie 2. It will be directed by Thurop van Orman, who also created the Cartoon Network series The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack.

There will be two animated movies released in September. The first will be Blue Sky's next feature film, Spies in Disguise. It will be Blue Sky's first film since Epic to star humans, and Will Smith's first animated film since Shark Tale.

The second will be Abominable, from the creators of Kung Fu Panda 3. It will be about a group of misfits returning a young yeti to his family in Mount Everest. I wonder how this film will differentiate itself from The Son of Bigfoot and Smallfoot.

And last, but not least, in November, Anna, Elsa, Olaf, Kristof, and Sven return in an all-new full-length adventure with Frozen 2. Not much is known about the plot yet, but one thing's for certain: It will very likely be a big hit.
For the time being, the only films I'm interested in seeing this year are How to Train Your Dragon 3 and Missing Link. I'll also try seeing Spies in Disguise, since I'm a secret rooter for Blue Sky.

Once again, there will be more animated films than the ones listed above that will premiere this year, but these were the ones I wanted to cover.
I'm sorry that there are no posters for The Angry Birds Movie 2, Abominable, or Frozen 2 shown here. As I am typing this, there are no posters or sneak peak art for those said movies, yet.

My DVD Collection 7.0

Happy very belated Holidays, everyone! With every Christmas comes news DVDs and Blu-Rays! Today, I'll show you my updated DVD collection!

These are movies I will be watching/have watched between December 25th and January 17th. I watched  Arthur Christmas that night as a Christmas present. The DVDs in this pile include Arthur Christmas, The Iron Giant, Kung Fu Panda, April and the Extraordinary World, the first Ice Age, An American Tail, The Incredibles, and Fantasia.

From top to bottom: Despicable Me, Despicable Me 2, Ed, Edd n Eddy: Edifying Ed-Ventures, Ed Edd n Eddy: Fools Day Par-Ed-Ise, Teacher's Pet, The Brave Little Toaster, Bambi, and Splash.

From top to bottom: Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas, Jim Henson's The Christmas Toy, Muppets Magic From The Ed Sullivan Show, and seven Best of The Muppet Show DVDs.

From top to bottom: Peanuts Holiday Collection, Christmas Eve on Sesame Street (a 1978 TV special), a rare Walt Disney Treasures DVD, Prep and Landing, Freaky Friday, Fantasia 2000, and Brother Bear.

From top to bottom: Horton Hears a Who! (the 1970 TV special from toon legend Chuck Jones), another rare Walt Disney Treasures DVD, Toy Story That Time Forgot, Balto double feature, Toy Story of Terror!, Ghostbusters, and Short Circuit.
You may have noticed that there are now two tin Walt Disney Treasures DVDs in my collection. The first is Silly Symphonies: Historic Musical Animated Classics. This set contains 31 uncensored Silly Symphony cartoons, including the Oscar-winning Three Little Pigs, The Tortoise and the Hare, The Ugly Duckling, and The Old Mill. Only 150,000 copies were produced.

The other tin is Behind the Scenes at the Walt Disney Studios: A Glimpse Behind the Studio Magic. This set contains the behind-the-scenes film The Reluctant Dragon, as well as three episodes of Walt Disney's TV show: The Story of the Animated Drawing, The Plausible Impossible, and Tricks of Our Trade. Only 125,000 copies of this rare DVD were produced.

Next up are my Muppet DVDs!

From left to right: Fraggle Rock Seasons 1-4, Sesame Street Old School Volumes 1 and 2, The Muppet Show Seasons 1-3, Best of The Muppet Show Volume 2 (Mark Hamill, Paul Simon, Raquel Welch), The Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper/Muppet Treasure Island double feature, The Muppets Take Manhattan/Muppets From Space double feature, The Muppet Christmas Carol, and The Muppets 2011.

This section simply contains A Muppet Family Christmas and six more Best of The Muppet Show DVDs. If your're wondering where my Dinosaurs DVDs are, they're in a secret compartment where I can take them anywhere.

Left to right: The Jungle Book, The Princess Bride, Pixar Short Films Collection Volume 1, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Robots, 101 Dalmatians, Chicken Run, Mary Poppins, A Bug's Life, Groundhog Day, and The Simpsons Seasons 1-5.
Top to bottom: The Simpsons Season 6-8.

From top to bottom: Incredeibles 2, The Prince of Egypt, Moana, Frozen, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Coco, The Book of Life, Song of the Sea, Antz, WALL-E, Aladdin, The Princess and the Frog, The Secret of NIMH, The Peanuts Movie, Sleeping Beauty, Shrek, Hercules, and The Emperor's New Groove.

From top to bottom: Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Lion King, The Land Before Time, Finding Nemo, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Lady and the Tramp, Tangled, The Little Mermaid, The Rescue Down Under, How to Train Your Dragon, Finding Dory, Tarzan, Enchanted, Babe, Zootopia, Inside Out, Ratatouille, and Up.

From top to bottom: Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Toy Story 3, The Great Mouse Detective, Anastasia, Beauty and the Beast (Blu-Ray), Bolt, Wreck-it Ralph, Monsters Inc, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Lilo & Stitch, Walt Disney Animation Studios Short Film Collection, Mulan, Ferngully: The Last Rainforest, Cinderella, and Big Hero 6.

From left to right: Home Alone, Pocahontas, Brave, The Good Dinosaur, Frankenweenie, Rio, How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (the TV special), Muppets Tonight, The Rescuers, Happy Feet, The Nightmare before Christmas, Schoolhouse Rock: 30th Anniversary Edition, We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story, Best of The Muppet Show Volume 7 (George Burns, Dom DeLuise, Bob Hope), Shrek 2, Banjo the Wooodpile Cat, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Beauty and the Beast (DVD), Jim Henson's The Storyteller, Walt Disney's Swiss Family Robinson, Hugo the Hippo, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (the 1990 film), Toy Story 2 (a different copy), The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The LEGO Movie, and Cartoon Vault.
I talked about the Cartoon Vault DVD back in July of 2017. Here's a link below in case you forgot.
https://asateriale.blogspot.com/2017/07/my-dvd-collection-40.html
Before Disney acquired the rights to the Muppets in 2004, The Jim Henson Company in conjunction with Time-Life Home Entertainment released 45 select episodes of The Muppet Show on DVD and VHS between 2001 and 2002, titled Best of The Muppet Show. Each DVD came with three episodes and some bonus features, including concept art and introductions from Brian Henson, Jim's son.

More about these DVDs are talked about here.
http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Best_of_the_Muppet_Show
As a bonus, I decided to show two DVDs I actually had for quite a while, as well as four books.

Two contrasting Nicktoons (Hey Arnold! and The Wild Thornberrys) on top of The World History of Animation by Stephen Cavalier, The Art of DreamWorks Animation by Ramin Zahed, Jim Henson: The Works by Christopher Finch, and The Art of Walt Disney (also by Christopher Finch).

Well, that wraps up my DVD collection for now! Tomorrow, we will see what 2019 has to offer for animated movies! There will be lots of sequels next year...

Animated Movies Throughout the Years: 1995-1997

Animated Movies Throughout the Years: 1995-1997
1995

There were two animated movies released in April. The first was the feature film debut of everyone's favorite dim-witted anthropomorphic dog Goofy, simply called A Goofy Movie. The film did actually well at the box-office and got favorable reviews. It's even a favorite of film critic and historian Leonard Maltin!

The second was Don Bluth's final film from Sullivan-Bluth Studios, The Pebble and the Penguin. The film did poorly at the box-office and got negative reviews. However, the VHS sales were good.

In June, Disney released their 33rd animated movie, Pocahontas. While the film was successful at the box-office, it got mixed reviews. However, Pocahontas did win the Oscars for Best Original Song and Best Original Score.

November saw the premiere of Toy Story, the world's first-ever computer animated feature film. The film grossed over 373 million dollars worldwide and received critical acclaim. Director John Lasseter even received an honorary Oscar for the completion of the first computer animated feature film.

And finally, in December, Amblimation released their third and final film, Balto. It did better at the box-office than their previous two movies, but had to compete against Toy Story.

1996

March saw the US release of Ghost in a Shell, another R-rated anime movie. It was about a half-android girl who must stop The Puppet Master, a government experimental super computer gone horribly wrong and starts hacking other networks.

Also released in March was All Dogs Go To Heaven 2. This movie is notorious for ruining the original film by turning Charlie Barkin, who was originally a gambling dog with a secret soft side, into an incompetent cheeseburger-loving doofus.

In April, Tim Burton released his second stop-motion film, James and the Giant Peach. While the film received good reviews, 'James' only earned 29 million dollars on a 38 million dollar budget.

In June, Disney released their 34th animated feature, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. While the film got better reviews than Pocahontas, it didn't meet box-office expectations.

And finally, in December, the famous dim-witted television duo, Beavis and Butt-Head, made their feature film debut with Beavis and Butt-Head Do America. In this film, Beavis and Butt-Head go on an adventure across the country to retrieve their stolen TV.

1997

In March, Turner Feature Animation released their second and final film, Cats Don't Dance. It's actually a bit like a predecessor to Illumination's Sing. Unfortunately, Cats Don't Dance was a box-office failure, but it did win the Annie Award for Best Animated Feature.

In June, from Ron Clements and John Musker, directors of The Little Mermaid and Aladdin, came Disney's 35th animated feature, Hercules. While the film got great reviews in every country except for Greece, Hercules didn't meet box-office expectations. However, it did get the Oscar nomination for Best Original Song.

And finally, in November, Don Bluth released his biggest hit since The Land before Time, Anastasia. This was the first film from Arizona-based animation studio Fox Animation Studios. Anastasia did very well at the box-office, got great reviews, and even got the Oscar nomination for Best Original Song. Sadly, it lost to James Cameron's Titanic.
I'm sorry that I didn't include Space Jam. For this project, I decided to exclude to all movies that are part animated and part live-action, with the exceptions of Walking With Dinosaurs and Sponge Out of Water.
That's all I have to say for this week's Animated Movies Throughout the Years! Tune in on
January 4th when we talk about animated movies from 1998, in which Disney brought us
to China and gave us an honorable movie, DreamWorks made their feature film debut
with The Prince of Egypt, and two CGI insect movies were released simultaneously.