Brad Bird's 'Ray Gunn' Animated Feature Ignites Debate and Acclaim!

At the renowned Abbey Road Studios in London, a 74-piece orchestra, under the baton of longtime collaborator Michael Giacchino, converged to record the score for "Ray Gunn." This new animated feature, a project of Skydance Animation and not Pixar or Disney, is helmed by Pixar legend Brad Bird, known for "Ratatouille" and "The Incredibles." The film is set to premiere at the BFI London Film Festival on October 10 and will be released on Netflix on December 18, marking the sixth collaboration between Bird and Oscar-winning composer Giacchino since their first teaming on "The Incredibles" in 2004.

The concept for "Ray Gunn" has been a three-decade passion project for Bird, with Giacchino having been privy to discussions about it for over twenty years. Bird's inspiration for this noir detective caper, set in a "Jetsons"-style retro future, struck him after hearing The B-52s’ song "Planet Claire." He envisioned a mash-up of the 1960s detective series "Peter Gunn" and '50s monster sci-fi, which evolved into the character Ray Gunn, a detective operating in the future. The project faced several delays due to Bird's commitments to other films like "Ratatouille," "The Incredibles 2," "Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol," and "Tomorrowland," along with an abandoned Will Eisner adaptation, before finally finding a home at Skydance.

Bird explicitly chose Skydance Animation over Pixar because he felt "Ray Gunn" didn't align with Pixar's typical focus on younger audiences. He expressed a desire to create animated content for teenagers and adults, a demographic he believes is underserved, despite comprising a significant portion of the movie-going public. Bird noted that Pixar's approach often treated such ventures as controversial. Skydance, on the other hand, embraced his vision for a different audience, a move that also reunited Bird with Pixar co-founder John Lasseter, now head of Skydance Animation.

The film transports viewers to a "brave new world" of 2039, envisioned through a 1939 lens, creating a striking retro-futuristic metropolis called Metropia. This world is far from welcoming, featuring flying cars, superpowered jetpacks, and holographic pop-up ads, yet it grapples with ingrained prejudice against extraterrestrials, rampant crime, and corruption. The visual landscape is a principal ongoing thrill, showcasing gorgeous Art Deco skyscrapers, smokily lit Old Hollywood nightclubs, and vividly kitsch rent-a-rooms, all rendered in chic, clashing scarlets, lilacs, and burgundies. Vehicles boast futuristic engineering combined with the luxurious, elongated curves of pre-WWII automobiles, placing "Ray Gunn" firmly in the sci-fi noir genre, lighter and brighter than "Blade Runner" but rich in its stylistic fusion.

The narrative follows the eponymous private detective, Ray Gunn (voiced by Sam Rockwell), as he navigates a complex mystery involving multiple murders and a dastardly plot centered around superstar singer Venus Nova (voiced by Scarlett Johansson), who harbors a monumental secret. Ray is hired by Nova's fourth husband, Arnold (Bobby Cannavale), to spy on her, only to find himself babysitting her amidst escalating scandal. A critical character dynamic is observed between Ray and his weary partner, Eye-Ra (Tom Waits), an alien cyclops. Their human-alien collaboration is frowned upon in Metropia, serving as a heavy racial allegory that, while occasionally causing tonal shifts, ultimately integrates into the principal storyline. Themes of protecting versus exploiting art, technology, corporate greed, and eternal human flaws are deeply woven into the film, demonstrating that Bird's nearly three-decade-old screenplay remains profoundly relevant today.

Giacchino's wonderfully busy, brassy score plays a pivotal role in maintaining the film's intrigue and emotional depth, expertly guiding the audience without revealing too much. Interestingly, Venus Nova's musical style is that of a Dua Lipa-esque electropop artist, with original songs by Grammy winner Kimbra, which stand distinct from Giacchino's more period-appropriate jazz-noir compositions. Despite its visual and sonic delights, some critical observations note that the characters, particularly Ray Gunn, occasionally lack texture and soul, and the humor could be more potent, leading to a feeling of emotional detachment from the audience over the film's two-hour runtime. Nonetheless, "Ray Gunn" stands as a testament to Bird's commitment to storytelling, offering a slick, resourceful, and energetic animated experience for a mature audience.