Sneaks is a film releasing wide this weekend from directors Rob Edwards & Chris Jenkins in Edwards’ feature directorial debut. The film boasts a large ensemble for its voice cast including Anthony Mackie, Martin Lawrence, Swae Lee, Chloe Bailey, Mustard, Quavo, Keith David, Chris Paul, and Laurence Fishburne. Ty, a misguided designer sneaker, ventures into New York City to find and rescue his sister who has been stolen by a shady collector. During his adventure, he meets a rag-tag group of footwear friends from all walks of life who help him on his quest to find his sister and to find his “sole-mate.”

Look, I’m not going to lie, I was one of the many that thought this was insanely weird when we first got the trailer. We’ve had similar concepts like Toy Story for the kids while we had Sausage Party for the adults. The problem is that the idea of sneakers coming to life is rather strange, yet I was optimistic as I do love shoes myself. I was even a shoe salesman in a prior life. I also understand the culture significance behind shoes. While the film certainly means well in its messaging, it ultimately fails in its execution.

I hate to be mean towards any film. Making movies is hard. I can only imagine an animated movie is even harder as I have no real experience with making an animated film. The film’s biggest problem is that it has way too many things working against it that it’s trying to lean more into its cast and themes. With Sinners coming out this weekend, a much better movie mind you, I’m afraid this movie won’t be seen by many, but I also don’t think that’s a bad thing. This movie could have been a lot better. We could have had Sinks as a double feature.

For 2025, it’s truly amazing how poor the animation is here. The first Toy Story looks more realistic than this. I don’t know much when it comes to animation, but this one needed a lot more time before making it available to the public. The rendering looks like it’s been barely done. From the character to the shoe design, I am surprised by just how bad it got.

At about 90 minutes long, the film drags and feels longer than what it really is. While I noticed early on how bad this was, I couldn’t help but feel like the filmmakers really tried to paint the importance of sneakers for others. Shoes can become one’s identity and I do believe it does that well. Unfortunately, the film tries to tackle way too many ideas and characters that loses focus of its messages by the end.

While I really like the cast attached to this, the voice performances are so shoe-horned in. The way every character is jarring and trying way too hard. I don’t know what’s going on with Anthony Mackie as of lately, but the guy desperately needs a better agent. I am sure with a big name like Laurence Fishburne attached as a producer that it attracted a lot of big names. Fishburne, along with Martin Lawrence feel like they are trying to overdo their performances to match the zany quality this film has. Instead, it consistently made me question what was going on and why was I watching it.

I can only imagine the idea came from people’s connection with shoes. In today’s day and age, this doesn’t feel like it’s as popular as it used to be. It’s incredibly niche. Again, it has a lot of great ideas that I don’t think will resonate with a larger crowd. On top of that, the negative reviews that are pouring in are not going to help the film in any capacity. I understand I am probably a part of that problem. I am just here to talk about where the film went wrong and what could have made it better.

I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if this film was working with a small budget. My theory was that the film was already not doing well and Fishburne came in and recruited a solid cast to help improve the film. For one, the film desperately needed better animation. The film also needed more of a reason to care about shoes when it may not be for everyone. I also think the film gearing the story from the kid’s perspective and have him be the main character would have improved the film’s quality. You could even have him imagining the shoes as real to help drive the importance of why these shoes are coming to life in the first place. Something about it desperately needed to be grounded. It could just get away with “Oh, shoes can just come to life in this world.”

Overall, Sneaks has all of the ingredients to make a film, but something goes messed up along the way and it snowballed into the final product that it is. It has themes that I think will resonate with some and the voices will certainly make viewers snap at the camera like Leonardo DiCaprio snapping at the TV in Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood. Unfortunately, the film’s lesser qualities will stand out more to viewers. I can’t blame them.

VERDICT: 2/5 (Bad)