Growing up I used to sit with mum and watch good ol fashion who dunnit movies and shows trying to work out who the killer was before the detective did. I was introduced to Agatha Christie and Peter Sellers and honed my detective craft like many of my age with Scooby Doo. My love of the murder mystery has followed me into my adult life and yet with younger children I often find it harder to introduce them to this genre without the fear of over-the-top gore taking away from the thrill of the brain tease.
Thankfully animation has always had my back. Introducing Inspector Sun. A seven-legged moustachioed Hercule Poirot import inspecting his way through the 1930s. After his last mission goes awry Sun sets off on a much-needed vacation boarding a Pan Am Clipper bound for San Francisco. Once on board he is approached by millionaire Dr Bugsy Spindelthorp who fears for his life after receiving some threats against him. Thinking it was nothing more than a tactic to scare Inspector Sun passes off his worry and tries to carry on with his holiday. All that changes when Dr Spindelthorp turns up murdered and now Inspector Sun is on the case to find the killer before they strike again.
Taking heavily from the murder mysteries of old Inspector Sun opens up a new audience to a movie genre that is starting to see a little resurgence lately. Inspector Sun is an amalgamation of Poirot Clouseau and takes heavily from their real-life actor portrayals, if only to push further into the parody of them. Ronny Chieng comedic delivery will have you and the kids laughing throughout complimented by a large cast of colourful insectoid characters all with seemingly varying levels of guilt to keep you questioning which way is the inspector going to go next.
Keeping Sun grounded even though he doesn’t like or want it is the ever-excitable Janey. A massive fan of the inspector who stowed away to meet her hero. Janey serves as the focal point of the story by making sure those of us watching are following along as the plot and twists are explained to her by Sun. Like any side kick Janey is a little undervalued with her input but has an infectious personality and I think Sun likes having her around more than he lets on.
Inspector Sun was created by Spanish studios The Thinklab Media and Gordon Box in association with 3 Doubles Producciones before being dubbed over in English, which is how I watched it. I am not familiar with the Director Julio Soto Gurpide and writers Toby Davies, David Freedman & Rocco Pucillo, but I found the simplicity of the story and characters refreshing in a scene that is often rife with agendas and sub-context.
Inspector Sun has been created as a simple who dunnit that is presented in a way that allows families with those pre-teen kids to sit down and enjoy something together. Plenty of questions were asked during my watch as we tried to determine who the culprit was and how they would be caught out. The animation is good, clean and simple again proving that sometimes less can be just enough to produce quality.
As a final point to touch on, those with younger kids may have a few scarier scenes early on and towards the end of the movie, but with a PG rating, that is about all you have to worry about.
Inspector Sun is out now in select cinemas.
