Set in a Zootropolis-style republic, the story of an odd-couple pair of secret agents quickly runs out of animal magic
Here’s a manic, soulless animated kids’ caper, with a hug-a-hippo message for our eco-anxious times awkwardly bolted on. It’s a Chinese-French coproduction, combining
James Bond spy gadgets with some superheroish action sequences that parents might find too bashy for pre-schoolers. Older kids may get the feeling they’ve been better entertained by fresher and funnier movies.
Like Zootropolis, the setting is an animal republic whose citizens have curbed their dietary requirements to live in harmony with one another. Top spy Vladimir, a flashy cat in aviator shades (voiced by Kirk Thornton), is demoted to working security detail at a power station after wreaking havoc while arresting a mafioso cheetah. Vlad’s boss at the spy agency, an enormous elephant, gives him the hairdryer treatment. “You’ve made this agency look like a terrorist organisation!” he bellows. Here and elsewhere, the humourless dialogue feels oddly unattuned to its young audience. Over at the power station, Vlad meets his new colleague, a geeky rat called Hector (Dino Andrade). When thieves attack, the pair fail to stop them making off with radioactive material. Can this odd couple work together as a team to discover the identity of the gang?