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Somehow, it's been five years since "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" came out and dazzled audiences and revolutionized modern animated films. The movie won the Best Animated Feature Oscar at the Academy Awards that year (beating a Pixar film, which is rarely an easy feat) and left audiences eagerly anticipating a sequel. "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" has arrived and it's very much a sequel, for better or for worse (thankfully, mostly for better).

The follow-up to the 2018 movie, directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson, has the enormous task of living up to the expectations ceated by the first. They dive into the new movie as most sequels do: higher stakes, more characters, and a longer runtime. "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" has the thankless job of following up a movie that won people over with its novelty, but it succeeds, with minor reservations.

Like the previous movie, "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" is about the artistry. The animation is stunning, maybe even more so than its gorgeous predecessor, combining different styles of animation and expanding upon the first movie's comic book-like aesthetic. It's easy to get lost in the animation and ignore the story, but "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" has plenty of substance to match its style.

The movie opens with Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) trying to keep her Spider-Girl alter ego hidden from her police officer father (Shea Whigham) after the death of Peter Parker. She reconnects with Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), who is trying to maintain his own secret identity from his parents (Brian Tyree Henry and Luna Lauren Velez), keep up in school, and defeat a new villain in town called The Spot (Jason Scwartzman). The emergence of The Spot threatens the Multiverse and the various Spider-People within, so Gwen and Miles must lead the charge to keep everyone safe.

"Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" does feel overstuffed - again, as most sequels tend to do - and a bit convoluted at times, but it's never boring. Even when the story feels like too much, the movie never loses you with its jaw-dropping visuals. Moore and Steinfeld, through their voice performances, create a familiar chemistry between their characters, which is a testament to the two actors who probably didn't cross paths until the film's premiere. Also joining the voice cast are Issa Rae, Daniel Kaluuya, and Oscar Isaac.

Movies continue to go back to the "Spider-Man" well over and over because he's one of the prime superheroes that allows nuance and shading, and often requires a genuine performance from the actor. Peter Parker - as portrayed by Toby Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland - and Miles Morales aren't tech gurus or billionaires; they are high school kids, who have to live a life they never imagined. "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" plays into that notion and is often moving in doing so, which allows the character to not feel stale.

"Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" is a Part One, with Part Two due out next year, and it plays as such. The final act kicks into "set-up" mode, but the movie stands tall on its own, while leaving you anticipating what's yet to come.