Inspector Sun

It's undeniable that the old serialized detective adventures remain thrilling romps. It's also true that some of them are very hard to watch because of the amount of gross racism and stereotyping that they contain. Even watching the greatest cinematic Chinese American hero, Charlie Chan, is tough once you realize it's Swedish actor Warner Oland in yellowface.

So for adults hoping they can share some of that delicious period design and stylish antics without having to recoil at shameful accents and orange peel teeth, animated whodunit comedy Inspector Sun is the perfect replacement.

The script by Rocco Pucillo clearly is woven out of the threads of that bygone era of dastardly villains, quirky but charismatic gumshoes, valiant sidekicks, femme fatales, and a certain pre-war stylishness. It all begins with Inspector Sun (Chieng), a copper whose antics garner him newspaper headlines and the ire of his chief. He's also lost a leg, which brings him down to seven: Yes, Sun is a spider, and everyone in this adventure is an insect, arachnid, or bug of some kind. They live, as bugs do, alongside us, and so when Sun is unceremoniously ousted from the force after yet another botched investigation, he decides adventure awaits in New York. His mode of transportation: the miniature compartments reserved for creepy-crawlies on a flying boat. This is, after all, the Golden Age of travel, where everyone wore suits or dresses, there were jazz bands in the dining room, luggage was monogrammed, and there was a corpse that met a premature end. Luckily for everyone, Inspector Sun is here to save the day!

Well, except that he's a bumbling fool, a preening dolt in a fancy suit with an immaculately waxed pencil mustache. The only creature alive that has more faith in Sun than Sun is his unwanted new assistant, Janey the hyperactive jumping spider (voiced with suitable verve by Kleimo), and the only person who needs Sun to solve the inevitable in-flight murder is the titular black widow (Greer) who, even more inevitably, is in the hot seat for the murder of her tycoon husband, Dr. Bugsy Spindlethorp (Geer).

Inspector Sun takes all those tropes and gives them fresh life that will make little kids want to don a fedora and start talking about life on these mean streets – even if Sun wouldn't wear so gauche a piece of headwear. Much of the comedy is derived from his idiocy and eventual somewhat redemption, with thrilling action sequences and a good handful of poop jokes thrown in for good measure. Well, what do you expect when the pilot is a fly?

Its former, fuller title of Inspector Sun and the Curse of the Black Widow gives clues as to aspirations to make this the first strand in a web of intrigue for Inspector Sun. Honestly, that wouldn't be a bad thing. This first film is a delight, a giddy old-school serial adventure romp that will introduce kids to the wonders of vintage cinematic detectives.