Next Door Spy is an animated mystery film that focuses on a girl named Agatha Christine who becomes a detective in her new town.
It’s been a long time since we’ve had a mystery flick that revolves around a kid detective. Some examples include Nancy Drew, Harriet the Spy, Pokémon Detective Pikachu and the recently released Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made, which shows that it can be a fun genre for children to be invested in. As a return to this fun style of filmmaking, we now have Next Door Spy from Copenhagen Bombay, which is a production company all the way from Denmark. Written and directed by Karla von Bengston in her feature debut, it’s an animated film that will be sure to appeal to kids in joining the mysterious adventure of being young detectives themselves. The real question that we should ask ourselves is, “Is Next Door Spy worth watching?” Let’s find out!
The simple premise focuses on a girl named Agatha Christine who moves into a new town with her family. The first thing she does while being settled at her new home is that she decides to establish a small detective bureau in the basement. As she’s busy solving her first case involving a theft at a local grocery store, she eventually realizes that it’s starting to become a lot bigger than she has originally thought.
The animation style is quite different from most animated features that you have seen before, and it’s easily the best part of the entire film. Artistically speaking, it’s very unique, which is actually really refreshing to see. It does fit the vibe for what they’re going for, and it’s a nice stylistic choice that will be sure to appeal to kids. What’s also impressive is that the animators have also decided to do it in black and white during some scenes to properly illustrate Agatha’s imagination in the style of a mystery thriller.
Agatha Christine is a likeable protagonist, and you’re rooting for her. She can actually be an inspiring role model to young girls to just be themselves. It’s just that the voice acting tends to be a little dull, because the line delivery from some of the characters feels very unnatural, which really takes you out of it. The dialogue is the main flaw that stands out the most while you’re watching the film, and at times it makes you want to cringe. Sometimes they will drop swear words two or three times, but it feels weird considering the fact that it’s clearly aimed at younger kids as their main target audience. For some odd reason, there’s also a talking lizard in the movie, and it’s probably one of the most annoying characters ever in an animated feature made for children.
While it probably appeals more to children than adults, it is worth checking out at least once for the cool animation style that the filmmakers have worked hard on. Even if it has a pretty simple story and lackluster voice acting, it might be something that will influence young girls to embrace their identities and follow their passion. In the end, Next Door Spy is an easy watch that kids will have fun with.