Playmobil: The Movie

A brother and sister find themselves in an animated adventure that is as undemanding as it is uninspired.

Altered images: Daniel Radcliffe and Anya Taylor-Joy

You have to blame the unexpected success of The Lego Movie for this uninspired transfer of the Playmobil brand toys into an animated action adventure with a few unmemorable upbeat songs.

The story of a brother Charlie (Gabriel Bateman) and a sister Marla (Anya Taylor-Joy) begins in ‘live action’ before they accidentally find themselves in the animated world of Playmobil, where a top-secret organisation makes citizens from different lands vanish into thin air. It is a thin premise which rapidly changes gear and genre from pirates to Vikings, medieval knights to dragons and robots to cowboys, before secret agent Rex Dasher (voiced by Daniel Radcliffe) enters the scene and attempts to rescue the siblings from imminent danger.

There is no logic or proper narrative in this crazy world, while the lazy script is in desperate need of re-examining.  However, this is a likeable if totally undemanding film for very small children with a fine contribution from Radcliffe as the charming Bond-like agent and a bizarre career choice from rising star Anya Taylor-Joy.

GEORGE SAVVIDES

Cast: Anya Taylor-Joy, Gabriel Bateman; Voices of  Jim Gaffigan, Adam Lambert, Kenan Thompson, Meghan Trainor, Daniel Radcliffe, Wendi McLendon-Covey.

Dir Lino DiSalvo, Pro Aton Soumache, Dimitri Rassam, Moritz Borman, Alexis Vonarb and Axel Von Maydell, Screenplay Greg Erb and Jason Oremland, Pro Des Jean-Andre Carriere and Rémi Salmon, Ed Maurissa Horwitz, Music Heitor Pereira.

ON Animation Studios/DMG Entertainment/StudioCanal-StudioCanal.
99 mins. France/Germany. 2019. Rel: 9 August 2019. Cert. U.