There is a curiosity-inducing undercurrent present throughout the elongated runtime of the feature length Disney+ to Netflix transplant Miraculous: Ladybug & Cat Noir, The Movie. The animation is serviceable, with standout moments during sequences that feature ray tracing, but ultimately the art design is pretty run of the mill. The script is possibly the first bigger budget production formulaic enough to be accused of using AI to generate it. The hit French animated series that debuted in 2015 has been upgraded to a full-length feature musical. A musical! There is so much thrown at the uninitiated that getting a full grasp on the burgeoning phenomena of Ladybug & Cat Noir will be a bit disorienting.
Miraculous: Ladybug & Cat Noir, The Movie is the origin story of the eponymous characters from popular French animated series created by Thomas Astruc. Director Jeremy Zag worked with Astruc to bring the origin film to life, implementing a sweeping French love story with musical numbers ranging from eye-rolling “not now” interruptions to “okay, that’s kind of cool “pop ditties. None of these moments particularly stand out, but that may be a difference sorted out by target demographics.
For the uninitiated, Miraculous: Ladybug & Cat Noir is the tale of Marinette, an earnest accident-prone Parisian high school student who becomes a superhero after saving the guardian of the “magical box” from a bus accident. The guardian, Wang Fu, first releases the Ladybug and Cat Noir in an attempt to stop the villainous Gabriel, who wants to bring back his dead wife with the help of the Butterfly Miraculous, a magical jewel that can help him find the remaining jewels and grant him his wish. Fellow high school student/model Adrien is the cocksure, arrogant boy with a broken heart, the son of Gabriel (who becomes the antagonist Hawk Moth); along with Marinette they begin their separate journeys of becoming Ladybug and Cat Noir. Marinette garners her powers from a genie/sprite named Tikki the Kwami of Creation while Adrien becomes Cat Noir under the tutelage of Plagg the Kwami of Destruction. Of course, Marinette and Adrien who fight alongside each other as the titular heroes fail to recognize each other outside of their super alter egos. This gives the good versus evil story arch a smidge of teen Shakespearean love story angst.
And everybody sings.
The film throws everything at the wall. From flatulent sprites to slapstick shtick and melodrama, Ladybug & Cat Noir, The Movie mixes every ingredient manageable into the pot. Unfortunately, as a result, there’s no discernible focus for your entertainment factor. The ingredients seem so derivative that one is hard pressed to recognize which adolescent stage this film is geared towards. There are also some adult moments and intense action sequences featuring a murderous mime that uses an imaginary gun to wreak havoc at a Parisian fair. It’s all there. And it’s all over the place.
Fans of Ladybug & Cat Noir will get everything their hearts desire from this origin story. The movie delivers on its premise and pushes the fan experience by answering one of the biggest questions that most of its followers have been waiting to have answered for the past eight years. For the rest of us, it will be hit or miss. Some cool moments and ideas pop up here along with a good heaping of girl power and super villainous destruction cloaked in a mediocre repackaging of a glut of animated/superhero films. And some singing.
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