And so here it is, the long awaited sequel to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

The first movie wowed audiences with its unique blend of art styles, its witty humor, and meta commentary on the wider Spider-Man franchise.

The sequel has been in the works since the original movie concluded, but suffered some reshuffling and delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic; as well as the decision to make two films (Across the Spider-Verse and Beyond the Spider-Verse sometime next year). With it finally released, does it live up to the original? Let’s dive into this nonspoiler review and find out.

The film picks up about 16 months following Into the Spider-Verse, with Gwen Stacy/Spider-Woman (Hailee Steinfeld) leaving her own universe to join a group of spider-powered (is it just me or does this review have more hyphens than usual) individuals that monitor the multiverse for incursions. This group is led by Miguel O’Hara/Spider-Man 2099 (Oscar Isaac), a serious Meanwhile, Miles Morales/Spider-Man (Shameik Moore) finds himself dealing with a new supervillain called The Spot (Jason Schwartzman), who can create interdimensional portals. When this villain puts the multiverse into jeopardy, Miles follows Gwen across the Spider-Verse.

This movie rocks. Full stop. I was wondering whether it was possible to top the first film and in many ways it met those expectations and exceeded them.

Visuals remain part of the treat for the movie, the first movie felt like a comic book brought to life while mixing other stylistic designs for the other characters from the different universes. This film continues that, but since we get to visit those other universe this time around, we get treated to so many different creative visuals including pop-art, watercolor paintings, LEGOs and even live actions scenes for comedic effect.

I spoke last week about how animation can do things that live action can’t, a film like this could not work in live action and be able to capture and blend so many art styles.

As you’ve seen from the trailer, this movie features numerous alternate variants of Spider-Man. While it would have been easy to let this movie be a cameofest, the movie doesn’t let it overshadow the story. And make no mistake, there are a lot of variants, some with more presence than others (including some versions I’ve discussed before and was really glad to see on screen).

And the story is excellent. It choses to largely be a character piece about the continuing struggles of Miles, but also sheds some light on Gwen’s story, letting the audience get a greater understanding of her own story.

The film had a great score with different leitmotifs for various characters, but I found the soundtrack to not be as memorable as the first films, but it is still really good.

It is honestly hard to remain spoiler free when discussing this movie, I think it is easy to say: if you enjoyed the first one, you’ll likely love this one as well. It feels like the logical continuation for the series and characters, it is more mature in the sense that our heroes are also growing and maturing as characters.

Needless to say, I’m excited to see the next film, Beyond the Spider-Verse, especially after this movie ends on the mother of all cliffhangers.

If you loved the first movie, if you love animation, if you love superheroes, and most importantly, if you love Spider-Man, I think you’ll love this movie.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse gets a 9/10.