A decent effort from Pixar that never quite clicks due to mostly forgettable characters and a plot feels somewhat all over the place. On paper, the story is solid, but it takes so many strange twists and turns that there’s nothing that is really satisfying. Add in an ending that’s emotionally hollow, and it makes the whole thing fall flat. The characters are mostly one-note and do little to make themselves memorable. (It doesn’t help that quite a few of this film’s concepts were done so much better by “The Wild Robot.”) Overall, the animation looks great, but the character designs aren’t all that interesting. Some of the jokes land, but the big emotional beats don’t work nearly as well as most Pixar movies.
** out of *****