Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Fearless’ on Netflix, a Generic Animated Movie From the Maker of ‘Hoodwinked’

Fearless is the third animated feature from Netflix in recent weeks, joining Animal Crackers and Latte and the Magic Waterstone among the ranks of family-friendly movies destined to find the late-summer sweet spot between curbing and exacerbating boredom. Serious movie-knowers may recognize the name of Fearless director and writer Cory Edwards, whose 2005 post-Shrek fairytale spoof Hoodwinked was an international sleeper hit; we’ll see if his new story about a video-game reality colliding with real reality boasts similar appeal.

FEARLESS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Reid (voice of Miles Robbins) is a typical high-school senior — he’d rather play video games than work on his science project. He’s engrossed in Planet Master, a sci-fi adventure in which he goes by the username Fe@rless, controlling intergalactic superhero Captain Lightspeed (Jadakiss) as he battles his way through the devious schemes of greenskinned alien Dr. Arcannis (Miguel J. Pimentel) and his oozy-sluggish sidekick Fleech (Tom Kenny, voice of SpongeBob), who enjoy the many benefits of having an army of not-nice robots and monsters at their disposal.

For reasons I won’t get into because they’re too stultifying to your experience of reading this review, Lightspeed’s three superpowered baby offspring end up in Reid’s living room, much to the teenager’s surprise-slash-chagrin, although it may end up being an opportunity for him to bond-slash-hang-out-with his crush-slash-science-project-partner Melanie (Yara Shahidi), who shows up just in time to witness this apparent warping of space-time sensibilities. So not only do they have to deal with ultra-strong goo-goo-ga-ga antics and very stinky diapers, but they also have to avoid Arcannis’ attempts to snatch the children, because he’s just an evil conniving jerkass.

Meanwhile, a U.S. military squad led by General Blazerhatch (Gabrielle Union) tails all the aforementioned interdimensional phenomenon, as the bad guys bear down on Reid and Melanie and the babies, as Lightspeed fights his way out of a labyrinth, as we wait for all the characters to collide with some TV-Y7 lightly violent comedy that we hope is at least lightly satisfying.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Fearless is sub-Incredibles stuff (think Jack Jack’s shenanigans) with the look and feel of lesser Dreamworks projects (Megamind, Monsters vs. Aliens) or that movie we forgot existed (MWFE), Planet 51.

Performance Worth Watching: Considering the quasi-clever dialogue and sugarless-vanilla-cone characters, I’ll highlight Tom Kenny’s gibberish-spouting Fleech as the relative highlight here.

Memorable Dialogue: Blazerhatch gets metaphorical as the plot comes to a head: “The poopy diaper just hit the fan. And poop just got real.”

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: Fearless is a perfectly passable distraction by circa-2008 standards of computer animation and storytelling. Just don’t expect too much in the way of big laughs, originality or visual prowess. It’s the dictionary-definition of timewaster, with its paring-knife one-liners, Star Wars and E.T. references and the modestly expensive licensing of a Lionel Richie hit. This is where I’m tempted to invoke Pixar’s brand of quality, but comparing Fearless to Toy Story or WALL-E is a pointlessly superficial comparison of visual presentation; as the guy in the movie once said, it’s not even the same ballpark, it’s barely even the same sport.

The film clocks in at 89 minutes, but 12 of them are the end credits, so at net 77 minutes, that’s enough time to keep pre-teens and post-babies entertained while their caretakers sneak three afternoon canned cocktails. It’s not one of those animated movies with multi-generational appeal, although it surely wants to be; it’s as sophisticated as seven courses of variations on Lucky Charms cereal, although that might offer a more memorable buzz. Fearless is good for approximately 3.85 smirks of amusement and maybe half a thrill, and destined to be a MWFE.

Our Call: SKIP IT. Shrek set the tone for this kind of thing 19 years ago, and Fearless makes us feel like only seven years have passed since then.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com or follow him on Twitter: @johnserba.

Stream Fearless on Netflix