Everything everyone will say is true. It's great, imaginative, funny, emotional, etc. Everything the first one was in many ways.

But in the spirit of discourse... I have to throw *one* gripe into the mix. And that's the ending-- or lack thereof. The action climax is an absolute barnburner, fucking tremendous stuff... and then the movie goes on for another 15-20 minutes. Which, imo, is fine... if it's the end of the movie. But it's not-- it closes a couple loops from this movie but largely is focused on setting up the second half. And the last big reveal for Miles-- that he's the Prowler in Earth-42-- is *so* obvious and feels honestly drawn out in a way these movies never really do.

So I don't know how I would've ended it-- but the pacing of it makes me wish it had ended closer to the action climax. Or at least closer to the reveal that Miles didn't make it back to his universe. Maybe I'd feel differently if I thought this movie had a natural "ending" (in the way that, say, the John Wick movies feel complete on their own-- this one is way more of a Fast X/Infinity War situation), but if you're going to chop a 5 hour movie in half, I'd have made sure my final beat was as close to the action climax as possible.

Again, this is a SERIOUS nitpick, I realize... but it's the handling of those last 15 minutes and the presence of the cliffhanger that makes me prefer the first movie. I reserve the right to change my mind once I see part 2 next year, maybe the two will blend beautifully and my nitpicks will be erased...

... but for now, I'd put it a small step behind the first Spider-Verse, which means it's still light years ahead of the vast majority of superhero content/studio fare released these days.