Super Charlie

Bluesky

First published 14 years ago, the Super Charlie series of books has reached far beyond its Swedish roots to entertain children and parents worldwide, so let’s get one thing clear first: although this film is based on Camilla Läckberg’s central character and concept, that’s pretty much where the relationship ends. Rather than focusing on baby antics and educational themes, this is a pretty standard superhero vs supervillain exercise, the only unusual thing being that the superhero is rather small and needs his older brother, Willie, to look after him.

It’s really Willie’s story, and that in itself is not a bad idea. We’ve all seen plenty of tales told from the point of view of superheroes. Being an unremarkable older brother is tough. Any kid feeling left out as a new sibling gets all the attention might relate to it. The birth of that sibling is often the first time that the world reveals itself as inherently unfair, forcing a coming-of-age process of sorts, even if one is still firmly in single figures.

Here, the boys’ father is a cop, which means that Willie gets beaten up at school and longs to be a hero himself, thwarting bad guys and winning praise. Relegated to his dad’s study so the baby can sleep closer to the parents’ room, he goes through his dad’s files and spots a pattern in a series of robberies. Because no-one will listen to him (there’s a lot of that), he decides to take on the criminals himself. He just has to find a way to combine it with babysitting duties.

There are some initially entertaining action scenes where Charlie is experimenting with his powers and some sweet moments as the boys bond in spite of Willie’s plan to exploit his brother’s talents, but they are too few and far between. The story keeps stopping and starting in a way that adults can deal with but is no good for young children, who need a consistent emotional arc to keep them interested. It also draws its villains’ story from a confusing prequel and doesn’t develop them very well as adults. The scheming inventor character who wants to use an overengineered hoover to sap Charlie’s powers (in a manner strikingly reminiscent of The Dark Crystal) gets far more screentime than his boss, and seems easily able to out-think that boss, so that when the final boss fight comes it feels as if the important stuff has already happened.

YouTube addicts will be pleased to know that there is a scene in which Charlie bites someone’s finger. There are also potentially entertaining scenes with a neighbour doing the competitive super-mother thing. The 3D animation works well enough, but doesn’t have enough charm of its own to make up for the film’s flaws. All in all, this is a disappointing exercise which squanders good material in a muddled effort to mimic hit superhero films which have 50 times the budget and are aimed at a completely different audience.

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