Caught in a Ham

An amusing four-minute short, which serves as a prequel to 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse'.

John Mulaney returns to voice the titular character, to good effect - there are a couple of nice gags in there. Animation is sweet, too. It's obviously not necessary, but 'Spider-Ham: Caught in a Ham' is good nevertheless.

Spider-man into the Spider-verse is one of the best superhero films ever, a brilliant animated feature movie, and the best Spider-man movie so far. One of the most charismatic and curious characters presented there was Spider-ham. Therefore, I am very pleased to watch this excellent and very short spin-off. Spider-ham: Caught in a Ham is very amusing and smart. It has that charming vintge look of Looney Tunes (together with a Dexter Lab and a Popeye-like food can) but also plays with contemporary design. The story is a mashup of 60's Batman & Robin, Bugs Bunny (with a Porky Pig shape) and Spider-man into the Spider-verse multidimensional issues. A touch of dark humor makes it clear that it aims adults, although children may love it too. Let me grab a hot dog.

Spider-Ham was one of the multiverse version of Spider-Man who appeared in the main film, and I found this short film on YouTube. Unfortunately where the film captured the imagination by its creativity, control of tone, and swiftness, Caught in a Ham seems half-done and a bit obvious. The inspirations of the short are clear, and the character is not taken beyond the one-liners he has in the filme - one-liners that worked as such, but when they are the focus of the film they do not make the same impact. The short is in the style of Looney Tunes and modern cartoons, but it is always the copy, and doesn't manage to use them as reference points.

Jokes are mostly obvious, and the disconnected character of Spider-Ham is not as funny in context of his universe. A shame then, because the main film was so good and the character was a fun one, but this is uninspired stuff.

"Caught in a Ham" is a special feature included with the DVDs for "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse". The film is only 4 minutes long but is well worth seeing. It's because for the non-comicbook fan watching "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" they've never been exposed to Peter Porker, also known as Spider-Ham. He's only in the film a bit here and there...and the short allows you to see the sort of world this Looney Tunes-like character lives in and where he's a hero. Overall, funny, well made and a must see if you get the DVD for the feature film.

Spider-Ham battles Doctor Crawdaddy as he pursues his food. The biggest question is what's in the hot dog. It's a sarcastic pun-filled Looney Tunes style cartoon. It's fun until it deteriorates into chaos. I can never unhear John Mulaney as Spider-Ham.