There is some fun to be had in this family animation about a creepy-crawly detective – though I did wonder if it might turn out to be less entertaining for its target audience than for the grownups watching with them. It’s set in the jazz age, and the film-makers have invested plenty of loving detail into their universe, right down to the art deco end credits. Precocious seven-year-olds may spot the Agatha Christie references, and the film noir inspiration behind the purring femme fatale black widow spider who is accused of bumping off her 13th husband.
The movie’s hero is Inspector Sun (voiced by comedian Ronny Chieng), a spider with waxed moustaches and a gold-topped walking cane. He bears more than a passing resemblance to Hercule Poirot – though he’s not exactly endowed with little grey cells. In fact, Inspector Sun is a classic nepo baby, given a leg up (or eight) by his police chief uncle. He is a prize nincompoop, and Chieng does a good job pulling off his irritating overconfidence without being too grating.
In the manner of Murder on the Orient Express, Sun is travelling on a plane to San Francisco when a murder is committed: a brilliant scientist is killed by what looks like a bite, and his black widow wife is arrested. The non-plot is a bit of a slog from here, unfortunately. It turns out the scientist has links to Sun’s arch nemesis, an evil locust crime boss. Luckily, Sun is assisted in the case by a clever teenage spider sidekick who spots the clues. There’s plenty of double-crossing, madcap chases and falling-out-of-airplane action, some of it reasonably entertaining. Best of all are the few moments when the bugs’ world collides with the humans towering above them. In one scene, insects drop into the first class carriage. “Eeeuugh. There are humans on board! How disgusting!”
• Inspector Sun and the Curse of the Black Widow is in UK and Irish cinemas from 21 June.
