‘Sneaks’ Review – A Heel Of A Disaster With No Sole

There are bad movies, and then there are movies like Sneaks—films so baffling in concept, so lazy in execution, that one starts to wonder if they were ever intended to entertain anyone at all. I didn’t go in expecting brilliance from an animated film about talking sneakers, but I did expect something. A laugh. A clever line. Maybe a flicker of charm. Instead, Sneaks delivers 90 minutes of what feels like a corporate brainstorm session come to life: loud, hollow, and relentlessly uninspired.

The premise alone sounds like a punchline. Talking sneakers who live in fear of being resold or scuffed? Who thought this was a good idea? And more importantly, who managed to rope in Anthony Mackie, Laurence Fishburne, and Martin Lawrence to voice this madness? What should’ve been a straight-to-streaming misfire somehow ended up on the big screen, and with it comes a rare kind of disappointment: the kind that makes you feel embarrassed for everyone involved.

Let’s begin with the animation. It’s the first thing you notice, and it never stops being a problem. The style attempts to mimic the kinetic energy of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, with the same choppy frame rate and graffiti-inspired transitions, but it lacks that film’s artistry or purpose. Instead of feeling stylized, it feels cheap. Movements are awkward. Characters look like unfinished assets from a mobile game. There’s no texture, no depth, and worse—no consistency. You might as well be watching a student demo reel stitched together by someone who forgot to hit “render final pass.” And yet somehow, the visuals aren’t even the worst part.

The story in Sneaks is so derivative that it feels like a watered-down imitation of Pixar’s greatest hits. It recycles themes of identity, purpose, and friendship without offering any meaningful variation or depth. The emotional beats are overly familiar, and the characters—particularly the teenage basketball player at the center—lack the nuance or growth needed to make them resonate. The villain, a sneakerhead influencer, feels more like a caricature than a real threat. With its constant exposition, dragged-out humor, and reliance on predictable shoe puns, the film struggles to find its own voice, instead echoing the structure of better animated films without understanding what made them work.

The characters in Sneaks are hollow vessels, speaking in clichés instead of showing any real personality or growth. Ty, the main sneaker voiced by Anthony Mackie, is written with all the depth of a motivational poster, spouting generic platitudes about self-worth without ever earning them. Maxine, his sister, is labeled as adventurous, but that trait is never explored or demonstrated; she exists more as a plot device than a character. J.B., played by Martin Lawrence, occasionally drops lines that almost gesture toward something meaningful, but they land with the sincerity of a shoe commercial. There’s no real development here—just a collection of voices attached to cardboard cutouts.

The voice acting itself is shockingly phoned-in. While a few of the actors try to bring energy to the dialogue, most sound like they were recording in separate rooms after skimming the script during lunch. Laurence Fishburne’s villain, The Collector, could’ve been interesting in theory—a man obsessed with hoarding shoes for status—but he never rises above caricature. He’s menacing only because the movie insists he is, not because anything about his performance or animation suggests real danger.

And then there’s the music. It’s as forgettable as it is painful. Some of the songs repeat the word “sneaks” so often that it feels less like a soundtrack and more like a bad joke. One ballad, supposedly emotional, is so clumsy and on-the-nose that it’s almost hard to believe there was any real talent behind it. It sounds like it was written by a focus group, ticking all the boxes: original song? Check. Pop beat? Check. Lyrics about emotions? Check. Is any of it good? Doesn’t matter—just check the box and move on.

But perhaps the most frustrating thing about Sneaks is how little it tries. You can tell when a bad movie was at least made with passion or vision. This isn’t one of those. This is a film that feels manufactured. Designed. Assembled. It’s less a story and more a marketing strategy. Every frame reeks of synergy—merchandising, soundtracks, brand partnerships. There’s nothing organic, nothing honest, nothing remotely human about it.

Children’s movies should never be this cynical. Kids deserve joy, imagination, wonder—not whatever this is. And for the adults stuck in the audience, Sneaks offers only the bitter realization that we’ve reached the point where even our animated films about footwear feel like knock-offs.

Sneaks is currently playing in theaters courtesy of Briarcliff Entertainment.