Static and Screen: Deja view at the movies

"Spider-Man: Across the Spider Verse" and "The Little Mermaid" are playing at Big Horn Cinemas.

The animated "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" – a sequel to 2018's very good "Into the Spider-Verse" – is a film that defies easy summary.

But suffice to say, a major part of the "Spider-Verse" plot involves the concept of "canon events" – the idea that the same things must happen the same way in every Spider-Man story.

For example, we’re told that every Spider-Man – whether he be Peter Parker or a briefly glimpsed T-Rex in an ill-fitting spider suit – must lose their mentor Uncle Ben-type figure.

This is the way the story goes, we’re told. And if the story of Spider-Man – or Ariel or Indiana Jones or any number of beloved characters returning to screens this summer – doesn't play out exactly as expected, the fabric of the universe (and the expectation of fans) may unravel.

Is there any room for a story that doesn't play out as expected?

Two recent blockbuster follow-ups to beloved animated films – "Spider-Verse" and Rob Marshall's live-action remake of Disney's "The Little Mermaid" – have very different answers to that question, and both are enjoyable in their own ways. But only one has the courage and conviction to use its beloved source material as a springboard into something fresh and original.

If "Spider-Verse" defies easy summary, "The Little Mermaid" requires no introduction. If you have even a basic understanding of the original 1989 film, you know exactly what to expect here.

Not only are Ariel, Sebastian, Ursula and company lifted wholesale from the original film, so are many musical numbers and long stretches of dialogue. David Magee gets a sole screen-writing credit despite the fact that he copied and pasted roughly 75% of the original film's dialogue.

That doesn't mean that there

aren't welcome additions and innovations here and there – just that they are largely cosmetic changes.

Alan Menken – one of half of the 1989 film's songwriting team – contributes three new songs written with Lin-Manuel Miranda of "Hamilton" fame, all of which range from serviceable to pretty great. The courtship of Ariel and Prince Eric, which was quickly breezed over in the original film, gets significantly more screentime here, which allows both leads to come across as fully-realized characters. And there are some welcome nods to not only Disney's version, but the original fairy tale written by Hans Christian Andersen.

There's just enough that is new to justify the film's existence, and the recycled content is still charming enough to elicit smiles and giggles. But second verse is largely same as the first here.

The same cannot be said for "Spider-Verse" – a film that uses its beloved Oscar-winning source material as a chance to explore exciting new avenues, both artistically and from a storytelling perspective. It's been a while since I’ve seen a film that was this ambitious, especially one in a traditionally risk-adverse superhero franchise.

It is impossible to separate the original "Spider-Verse" from its animation style – a unique homage to comic book artistry, with the action being separated into panels and sound effect words materializing on screen.

The new film replicates that style and expands on it, taking us through multiple different universes, each with its own distinct art style. An early Renaissance-era battle with the villainous Vulture looks like a Leonardo Da Vinci sketch come to life, for example. Another brief detour takes the characters into a stop-motion-animated Lego universe. And that's really just the tip of the artistically innovative iceberg here.

The film is, no two ways about it, an artistic triumph. But at this point, it's harder for me to make a judgment on whether the storytelling succeeds or not.

Part of this is because, at 140 minutes, there is just so much of it – too much to absorb in a single viewing. But at the same time, there also isn't enough – this is just the first part of a two-part story that will conclude with "Beyond the Spider-Verse" next March. So only time will tell how this all works as a cohesive whole.

Still, it's rare to see a film that is this confident in its own vision – both in terms of storytelling and artistry. And in a blockbuster industry that is more than happy to repeat the canon events that came before, it alone has the courage to push franchise filmmaking into something new, different and defiantly weird.

There's still much more to come this summer – many of which I’ll touch on in future columns – but it's hard to imagine it getting much better than "Spider-Verse."

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