An Open and Shut Case: Bird’s Passion Project Feels 30 Years Too Late
A sci-fi, detective story ruminating in the mind of Pixar legend Brad Bird for close to three decades, Ray Gunn, finally brought to fruition by Skydance Animation and Netflix is indeed… stuck in the past. The visionary behind two of the most trailblazing animations of the 21st century The Incredibles and Ratatouille unfortunately forgets the lessons he taught and the standards he set, recapturing none of the magic here. Admirable central themes surrounding acceptance, media coercion and class conflicts at least add some heft to the hard-boiled, noir flavors but this is ultimately drowned out by predictable plot and character beats reminiscent of his own Pixar leftovers.
With a retro-futuristic aesthetic, private detective Raymond Gunn’s (Sam Rockwell) two men (or one man, one alien) agency is not going to plan. Him and his partner Eye-ra (Tom Waites), a one-eyed green alien, are hemorrhaging money and need something juicy to stay afloat. They operate in Metropia, a Blade Runner adjacent city filled with rampantly capitalist ideals, a blatant consumer culture and a racist sensibility towards its many alien inhabitants. But just in the nick of time, Arnold Dom (Bobby Cannavale), the husband of controversial, badly behaved pop-superstar Venus Nova (Scarlett Johannson) comes calling for Gunn’s help with a big pay packet. Follow Venus to see if she’s up to no good and confirm his suspicions of an affair and they’re in the money. This simple request opens up a web of lies, deceit and investigative clichés that lands them in a whole lot of trouble.
The difference between Ray Gunn and the highest highs of Bird’s previous work is the distinct feeling of tiredness. While the metropolis of the world and those that live in it feel well thought out there’s a reliance on regurgitated plot devices and character motivations that feel devised from thirty years ago. Gunn doesn’t have much going for him as a character beyond down on his luck, roguishly handsome and well intentioned underneath his rough exterior. The morals and values of the film are in the right place but there’s a laboured quality to its themes of authenticity, being who you really are and fighting back against those that try and squash the little guy. You can see the “twists” coming a mile off, especially with Nova who is displayed as a typical, glowy skinned, wide eyed beauty and then discovered to be much, much more. But is she really? These dated ideals may suit the takedown of the world Bird has created, but the film still feels too safe, too old-school, and at times, half-measured — a sort of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? without the anarchic bite.
It seems ironic that the heavily criticized Skydance, itself headed by a villain, mixed with the notoriously cine-shy Netflix should be the place Bird’s passion project lands. There’s a dilution of the film’s points and presentation of a fat-cat in giant slug monster gangster form “Sluggsy” (Matt Berry) when these corporations themselves tend to indulge these people. The animation is certainly polished but the hard edged, smooth surfaced renderings also feel distinctly uncreative. It’s as if human creativity has been dulled in the pursuit of perfection, a commodity prized by Venus’s management team. The idea feels especially pointed amid AI’s rapid encroachment on the industry, with television’s The Jetsons and its traditional, hand-drawn 2D animation representing a different kind of high bar.
With this slate of ideas and the amount of talent behind the scenes, it’s a shame Ray Gunn doesn’t do anything in the way to push the genre defying ideas that Bird himself has displayed in the past. This may be the future but we’ve been here before.
Reviewed on October 11th at the 2026 London BFI Film Festival (70th edition) Galas programme. 119 Minutes.
★★/☆☆☆☆☆
