Spark

Directed by Aaron Woodley, Spark doesn’t hit the notes to really entertain both young and older audiences as animations are expected to do these days.

Jace Norman voices Spark, a teenage monkey who lives on an abandoned planet with his gang of friends after a power-crazed ape Zhong almost destroys it and his family with a wormhole type super-weapon. He now has plans to take over the universe. There are some rebels who are fighting the good fight and albeit with some complications decide that Zhong has to be taken down.

It’s pretty familiar stuff, which isn’t bad in itself but the main flaw is that the heroic characters’ lack charm being rather stock and colourless. More fun is the diminutive Zhong (Alan C Peterson), with his squeaky platform shoes and his bodyguard the huge put upon Coco. Also in good form is Patrick Stewart, an old doddering captain but even here there’s going through the motions performance about it.

The animation itself is colourful and pacey – some chase scenes were headache inducing – it just does not rank with the likes of Pixar and Dreamworks. That is a very high bench mark but it is what audiences have got used to, and expect.

With four writers, including Woodley, the whole thing has the feel and look of a project slotted together with all the perceived tropes that go to make up a family movie. Very young audiences may be engaged for the duration, though it is highly unlikely that there will be much interest after that.