I know this headline sounds like just mixing two popular things together, but hear me out. ‘Cheap meals for two’ is ‘Taylor Swift tickets’. ‘Cute cat videos’ is ‘Final Fantasy 16release date’. I get it. ButAcross the Spider-Versereally isTears of the Kingdom, a startling work of art that reinvents itself, its tropes, and its universe with the swagger of one who has done it all before.
Since Into the Spider-Verse,several movies have unashamedly taken inspiration from it. The upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem seems to be the most direct facsimile of Spider-Verse’s animated flair, but the controlled chaos and attempt to make each frame a painting is something we see in Mitchells Versus the Machines, The Bad Guys, and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish too. In the same way Breath of the Wild threw down the gauntlet to open world developers, it felt as if Into the Spider-Verse had unlocked a new perspective for Western animation.
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That left both Across the Spider-Verse andTears of the Kingdomin a difficult position. How do you improve on a piece of art the mainstream has deemed perfect? Just doing the same thing again wouldn’t be enough, and doing something completely different breaks your audience’s expectations in the wrong way. That leaves you with only one choice - do it better. Easier said than done, though you wouldn’t know it from Across the Spider-Verse or Tears of the Kingdom, which both pull it off with ease.
It’s the ease that is particularly telling here. I know a lot of effort was required - it’s only been out for a weekend and already animators are sharing behind the scenes info like Hobie being animated on threes instead of twos - but it feels effortless. In Into the Spider-Verse, you’re able to see the team trying to create a new style of animation, very pointedly attempting to add details and style to each scene. It’s an impressive piece of craftsmanship and that should not be retconned in the wake of its sequel, but it was created by an artist with sweat on their brow, left doubled over, red-faced, and short of breath by the end.
Across the Spider-Verse, meanwhile, has an easygoing strut to it. There’s more detail, more flair, likely far more effort, but it feels like a breeze. Into the Spider-Verse wants you to notice every trick it has to offer, proudly highlighting each fresh idea it has. Across the Spider-Verse throws something cool at you every few seconds. Didn’t see it? No matter, you’ll get the next one. This is evident from the very first frame, a throwaway joke about Sony’s secret cough screen that few will have noticed, let alone understood. Then it flips into hyperdrive as the movie opens with Gwen in her own distinctly stylised universe.
This opening sequence is an explosion of colour, framing, and sharp cuts that set the tone for the wild ride the movie has in store. Though it occasionally slows down for narrative moments or emotional beats, it’s never far away from speeding up again. Each moment Spot returns is an exercise on pushing the animation further and further, darker and darker.
The animation in Into the Spider-Verse was vibrant and creative, but it had nothing on the way Across the Spider-Verse elevates its game. From Gwen’s drumming to the Mumbatten sequence to everything Hobie does, parts of Across the Spider-Verse burst at the seams with the sort of creativity Into the Spider-Verse had to sweat blood for. It’s not just in improving on a masterpiece that Across is reminiscent of TOTK though, but in what that improvement is built on.
It’s best to think of Into andBOTWas the foundation. For Spider-Man, that means inventing this animation style, establishing each character’s personality, and pulling us into the world narratively. For Zelda, it was the fresh approach to exploration, setting the tone of the world, and designing the map. Because the animation and character direction have already been decided on, Across can push things further and build more substantially. Likewise, TOTK already has a map and a playerbase interested in making their own fun, and so new forms of exploration and creatively-challenging abilities are added.
As ever though, the how is more important than the what. Both Across and TOTK have a charming arrogance to them, a knowledge that the audience will be with them when they take risks, and more importantly, that they will pull it off. We see animation used more thematically in Across, with style changes throughout, as well as a willingness to branch out away from Miles, while TOTK adds two new layers to its map and doubles down on breakable weapons while giving players abilities to also break the game.
Both Across the Spider-Verse and Tears of the Kingdom are sequels to critically acclaimed mainstream hits credited with having a generational impact on their mediums. Both shrug in the face of this pressure. Who better to build on genius but the genius themselves? Across the Spider-Verse is Tears of the Kingdom, and TheGamer is watch movies online free no download.
