Brad Bird's animated film "Ray Gunn" combines film-noir storytelling with retro-futuristic design in a family-friendly adventure, according to the Guardian.
Sam Rockwell voices Ray Gunn, a private detective who encounters a femme fatale character voiced by Scarlett Johansson. The film is set in a retrofuturistic city that draws visual inspiration from "Metropolis" and "Blade Runner," featuring flying cars, moving walkways and hologram billboards alongside classic noir trappings like tough detectives and shady characters.
The Guardian's review praises Bird for applying "his masterly authorial touch" to deliver an entertainment experience with "old-fashioned values." The reviewer describes the animation as "smart, witty, humane" and credits the film with injecting humor into what could have been familiar sci-fi clichés. Visual design elements include bulbous automobiles styled from an earlier era and black-and-white television imagery, deliberately avoiding modern flat-screen displays.
The reviewer positions "Ray Gunn" as a counterpoint to what the Guardian calls "dull, AI-formulaic stories and visuals" that currently populate animated films. The piece characterizes the work as a "fantasy spectacular" that retrieves the noir genre from a creative slump through a light touch that maintains the fun of the setting.
The film's title references the protagonist's name and his use of "state-of-the-art laser-particle firearms," though the reviewer notes ambiguity about whether additional meanings were intended.