Super Charlie (2024)

Despite being about fifty years older than it’s demographic, I actually quite enjoyed this. Every century, a meteorite endowed with super-powers flies path the earth, and the only very recently born “Charlie” somehow manages to absorb it’s green dust. Nothing is too obvious when he goes home with his writer mother, who is constantly glued to her laptop; his policeman father and his elder brother “Wille”. Of course, there is soon a degree of little brother envy as these parents dote on their new arrival, but it is his sibling who discovers that at barely a week old, “Charlie” can talk! That’s just the beginning of his quirks, and so soon the pair are on the trail of a gang who have caused their father considerable trouble over the years. All the while, the police are under pressure to buy some specially adapted uniforms that could make them into “Robocop” types, but fairly quickly we learn that the evil “Imperio” is up to a bit of sophisticated manipulation whilst it’s moustachioed sidekick cunningly devises a pint-sized chair to essentially percolate the formidable powers of the young babe, so he can make himself an ultra-potent espresso. The story follows a predictable path, but along the way it does make a few salient points about obsessed parents, brotherly rivalry and mistrust whilst also proving that, in the end, family ought to come first. It’s not really a film for young kids as some of the dialogue is a bit tongue-in-cheek, but the visual effects are quite good fun and the message it wishes to convey to children and parents alike are adequately wrapped up in a light-hearted, sci-fi, amiability that sees the two lads learn to communicate with each other without the need for a phone, or a tablet, or any form of social media at all. That’s got to be a good thing.