L'ispettore Ottozampe e il mistero dei misteri

It's 1934 Shanghai. Master sleuth huntsman spider Inspector Sun captures nemesis villain Red Locust. Sun is set to fly to America when he is hounded by jumping spider Janey who is desperate to be his apprentice. On the flight, there is a murder. Surprisingly, the clues point to Red Locust.

I came into this blind with only the DVD cover. At first, I assumed this to be Chinese animation. The proliferation of western characters confused me. I figured that this is some Charlie Chan bs. After twenty minutes, I had to check. This is Spanish and it's meant to be Agatha Christie adjacent. That makes more sense although these Spanish animators should put more Spanish influences into their work. Even AC has stories in Spain. I do like some of this while other stuff is a bit awkward. Maybe this could do more to state the premise initially.

"Inspector Sun" has a canny knack of solving crimes, but usually he leaves quite a trail of devastation in his wake. It's that that finally leaves his boss with no option but to send him on an holiday. Distracted by super-fan "Janey", he misses his intended flight and ends up travelling to San Francisco instead. It turns out that his new found friend has stowed away on this luxurious seaplane, but that's just the start of his troubles. "Arabella" is a black widow spider, on her umpteenth husband so nobody is surprised when he is found dead. She is held to blame and incarcerated in the brig. Thing is, "Sun" is not convinced - the bite marks don't align, you see. He also discovers that the menacing "Red Locust" has escaped from the jail in which he put him, and is now determined to recreate his swarm and gobble up all the food. Unsure as to whom he can trust, and with only a few hours before the plane lands, it falls to our intrepid detective to solve the crime. To be honest, the quality of the animation is nothing at all special and the narrative pinches things from just about everyone from "Charlie Chan" to "Sherlock Holmes" by way of "Indiana Jones" and "James Bond". It's also fair to say that "Janey" is really quite an irritating character, but as the story gets going it's a perfectly watchable family sleuthing adventure set amongst the world of bugs. The writing tries it's hand at comedy now and again, and there are one or two quite sharp witticisms, but otherwise this is just standard summertime cinema fayre that you won't recall after a week - even if you were in it.

Shanghai, 1934. In a world of insects parallel to that of humans, the police are the spiders, - probably because if they grab you with their 7 legs they have a hard time escaping. And Inspector Sun is the best of them all. Obviously, like any good policeman, he has a lethal archenemy, the fierce and very evil red lobster. When the inspector decides to retire, he embarks on a flight in which a murder occurs. Veteran Inspector Sun (voiced by Ronny Chieng), a lone spider, leads his final mission against his archenemy Red Lobster, before embarking on a well-deserved retirement. His vacation aboard a Pan Am Clipper plane between Shanghai and San Francisco ends abruptly when millionaire Dr. Spindelthorp is found murdered. Throughout the investigation Sun is accompanied by an admiring young fanatic, he's not thrilled to have a companion in tow, but that's very much in tune with the need to explain things to the audience as we go. And the main suspect is the Black Widow, who is consequently locked up. As a seven-legged spider, Sun has his hands, or rather his legs, busy trying to find out who did it and why. Inspector Sun has his work cut out for him tracking down his archenemy Red Locust, a supervillain who believes in the hive mentality; "Long live the swarm" is his mantra, while Sun prefers a more individual approach when it comes to insect philosophy. What begins as a routine case for Sun will ultimately decide the fate of humanity. Thus the fate of the world of insects remains in the hands - or paws - of the notorious police inspector.

The current interest in detective films has given us some unconventional ones worth watching, so here the kids have their own super-detective: Inspector Sun, being based on the Samuel Goldwyn award-winning screenplay. An original rather than imported premise starring Inspector Sun, a Hercule Poirot type of detective including his mustache and classic clothing, he is an arachnid who is searching for clues in 1934 Shanghai, this animation that originally came from Spain, but which has been picked up and dubbed for family audiences in the U. S. That means we have a lot of precedent; We're remembering the type of storytelling that created Charlie Chan, Sexton Blake, famous writers like Sax Rohmer, Agatha Christie and others, bringing up this colorful film aiming to translate this detective energy to a wide audience of all ages. And even from a childhood point of view, recalling classic cartoon movies like Scooby Doo when it comes to the lost art of solving crimes. Here Sun boards a passenger plane heading to San Francisco and in its cargo a parallel universe of all kinds of insects is created, but when there is a murder, he has to discover which of the various suspicious characters he knows is responsible and, therefore, Of course, there is the ordinary meeting of the main suspects in the crime and finally, after much deliberation, Inspector Sun/Poirot will decide who the murderer is. All of these twisted criminal events lead to a spectacular finale, with a swarm of giant lobsters attacking Alcatraz Island being one of the best parts of the film.

This fun, original and funny family film was nominated for the Goya award for best animation in 2023. It is a Spanish production well and professionally made by director Julio Soto Gurpide, he believes that children should have their own artistic cinema, but keep them away from the usual superheroes and science fiction tropes and this 'Inspector Sun and the Curse of the Black Widow (2022)' could be a good start; acceptably directing the film in an atmosphere of a crime novel in the purest style of Agatha Christie that is reminiscent of her most popular novels, and even the inspector himself is a reflection of the mythical Hercule Poirot.

This a cut above most animations in terms of color and character, a mystery film that should entertain young and old alike. And although the adaptation sometimes leaves some practical questions unanswered, it turns out to be an acceptable and passable entry in the 3D animation genre that nevertheless failed at the box office.

I didn't have the highest hopes for this, based on the trailer. But it did actually manage to disappoint. To be fair, it is nothing wrong with the animation, but the story is not very engaging. The movie does not manage to get laughs, either from the kids or the grown ups in the cinema. Most of the humor is based on the clumsiness of Inspector Sun, and it just does not cut it. There is not any suspense either, I was just waiting for the thing to end.

I am aware it's a movie made for kids, but the list of great animated movies that both adults and children enjoy is long, so there is no reason for this to be that bad. The great ones manage to make jokes for the children and jokes that only adults understand. This did neither. I advise everyone that consider to watch this to find another movie.