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“Welcome to the future,” we hear several times in “Ray Gunn” — not that the brave new world it presents is all that welcoming. Or, for that matter, particularly brave or new. The good news is we finally have flying cars and superpowered jetpacks; in other respects, though, we haven’t come a long way at all. Co-existence with extraterrestrials has seen humans revert to old habits of prejudice and apartheid; crime and corruption are rampant as ever; pop-up ads now irksomely manifest as holograms in your personal space. Still, at least the future looks good. The fifth animated feature from Brad Bird is a handsome return to the retro-futurism he previously practiced in “The Incredibles” and his live-action oddity “Tomorrowland”: in this case, a vision of an impossible 21st-century metropolis as might have been dreamed in 1939.

The world-building — indeed, even just the building-building — is the principal ongoing thrill of “Ray Gun,” as it zips restlessly between gorgeous Art Deco skyscrapers, smokily lit Old Hollywood nightclubs and vividly kitsch rent-a-rooms, all rendered in chic, clashing scarlets and lilacs and burgundies, in vehicles that may be futuristically engineered, but have the luxurious, elongated curves of pre-WWII automobiles. Like “Blade Runner,” Bird’s film sits in the genre-melding realm of sci-fi noir; unlike “Blade Runner,” with its seamy, rain-sodden transformation of Los Angeles, this lighter, brighter detective story is not willing to sacrifice much gleam.

And fair enough: “Ray Gunn” is a caper first and foremost, with all its gumshoe antics safely in the PG-rated zone, though one suspects many of today’s kids may be entirely bewildered by it. (After all, Robert Zemeckis’ peerless “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” — the original and best repurposing of noir tropes for family entertainment, and a clear creative touchstone here — is now very nearly as old as the 1940s classics it was spoofing.) Bird’s mystery zigs and zags breathlessly as it probes multiple murders connected to a femme fatale-styled starlet in the imaginary city of Metropia; it’s consistently nifty, even when it feels less than original.

But it it’s never quite as funny as it should be, while its characters — in particular the eponymous hero, a smooth-talking P.I. voiced by Sam Rockwell — want for texture and soul. Audiences should happily speed along with them on their adventures, but after a fairly long two hours in their company, we don’t feel terribly attached to them. These aren’t fatal shortfalls: There are more than enough visual and sonic delights here to compensate. But they are surprising ones from Bird, whose animated work has been marked by zingy, non-snarky but adult-favoring wit and carefully seeded personal stakes.

In “Ray Gunn,” the titular pun — the protagonist’s name, but also his preferred weapon — is typical of the script’s quippery, getting more nods and smiles than outright giggles. The only character dynamic worth a damn, meanwhile, is that between Ray and his weary partner Eye-Ra (Tom Waits, the film’s most inspired casting coup, yielding its most affecting voice performance), who run a down-at-heel “discreet investigations” business from a creaky office being gradually stripped bare by repo men. Business is bad for Ray, in part because Eye-Ra is an alien cyclops, and human-alien collaboration is frowned upon in this world. (We never learn how the two species came to occupy the same planet, but the law regarding their separation is entrenched: Eye-Ra is barred from human hospitals, while aliens can only enter certain clubs as serving staff.)

It’s a heavy racial allegory to throw into an otherwise breezy enterprise, and the tone hiccups here and there as a result. With more than a nod to the identity politics that underpinned last year’s “KPop Demon Hunters,” however, it does eventually figure into the principal storyline — which, after a couple too many introductory false starts, kicks off when Ray is hired by Arnold (Bobby Cannavale), the lunkhead fourth husband of tempestuous pop megastar Venus Nova (Scarlett Johansson) — to spy on her, though his motivations, of course, aren’t entirely what they seem. When people start showing up inconveniently dead and she’s thrust into scandal on the eve of her new album launch, Ray finds himself effectively babysitting her whilst carrying out his own snooping. But she’s a hard woman to pin down, in multiple senses; the more he knows about her, the less he knows about her, and naturally something sparks between them.

It’s an odd, perhaps youth-pandering detail that Venus, with her wasp-waisted silhouette and Veronica Lake hairdo, isn’t a Hollywood siren but a Dua Lipa-style electropop artist. (Her original songs are in fact written by Grammy winner Kimbra, of “Somebody That I Used to Know” fame, and they aren’t much in dialogue with Michael Giacchino’s wonderfully busy, brassy score, which makes no secret of its preferred era.) Nova’s particular brand of celebrity doesn’t really fit the film’s 2039-by-way-of-1939 mission statement, though it does allow Johansson a standout torch number in a more anti-period-appropriate vein — when Venus shows her true colors. Turns out she, like Bird, wants everything old to be new again, or everything new to be old again, or whatever the case may be.

She has a suitable partner on that front in the analog-inclined, trenchcoat-sporting Ray, but his image, too, doesn’t entirely add up: Rockwell voices him with jaded slyness, but he has the unlined face and swooshy hair of a Disney prince, rather than any stubbly Bogart gruffness. It’s just one reason why we can’t altogether warm to him — and why he doesn’t light up the center of Bird’s beautifully rendered dark-pastel dystopia. Rather like the man himself, “Ray Gunn” has slick, boundless energy and resourcefulness to spare, but that doesn’t quite amount to charm.

At MIPJunior, it’s not often that a little creeper gets put out on center-stage. But on Oct. 10, as “Migali” makes its world premiere in front of buyers from all across the globe, a tiny spider princess seems to be set on weaving webs of laughter and fun at the unmissable Cannes children’s TV market.

Produced by Adelaïde Terme (Easy Peasy Entertainment, the production/licensing arm of French Auzou Publishing Group) along with Bardaf! Productions in co-production with RTBF, Ketnet, RTS and TF1, “Migali” is a 52x11minute series centered on six-year-old Migali, a spider princess determined to become queen.

As she heads to the Royal Academy, where princes and princesses of all kingdoms learn to control their abilities, Migali brings her boundless energy and extraodinary web-weaving skills to the school, meeting a gallery of other quirky characters from all size and shapes. Facing (and, more often than not, provoking) chaos in her daily life, Migali stays happy, merry and positive, meeting each challenge as a new, fun adventure.

An adaptation of the eponymous comic book series by Alexandre Arlène and Fabien Ockö Lambert, “Migali” is directed by Cédric Frémeaux (“50/50 Heroes”). Ahead of the premiere, Frémeaux spoke with Variety about the smooth journey that has been bringing this loveable, quirky spider princess from page to screen.

“I’ve always loved animated series,” recalls the storyboard artist-turned director. “As a kid, I woke every morning eager to discover ‘Dexter’s Laboratory,’ ‘Dragonball,’ and many others. I was captivated by these worlds. Growing up, it quickly became clear to me that I wanted to work in that industry someday.”

During high school, Frémeaux found his way as an intern at Ankama, the French multimedia giant behind videogame hit “Dofus,” subsequent animated series “Wakfu” and manga hit “Radiant.” After studying animation at LISAA in Paris, he started his career as a storyboard artist, dabbling with editing and directing on trailers and teasers. “Migali” is his second series, a match made possible by Terme, who reached out to Frémeaux for this adaptation.

“She presented me Auzou’s line-up, and I immediately connected with ‘Migali,’ which turned out to be her own pick for our collaboration. What struck me with this character is how radiant and fun she was, as a heroin. With our target audience [kids 5-8], it’s very important to connect with a protagonist. And with Migali, they definitely can as she faces the sames challenges that they do.”

Migali, who Frémeaux frames as “Spiderman’s young cousin living in a world of unicorns, dragons and potions,” was brought to screen in close connection with the author duo and Terme, who saw the potential for an animated series even before the first comic was published.

Since then, Migali’s books have sold more than 150,000 copies in France, and boasts nine volumes already. This success fueled Frémeaux’s enthusiasm even more, as he prepared himself for the challenge of bringing this character to the screen.

“What I also love about ‘Migali’ is its humor, which doesn’t shy away from deeper topics that really connect with kids. Children from this age are much smart than we think, and if you’re lazy in your writing, they will see it instantly. Today, they have access to so much content. They know these narratives, and they know how it works. Instead of fighting for their attention span with fast-paced, frantic content, we chose to craft something that both takes them seriously and makes them laugh. And I think that’s key to succeeding in retaining kids’ attention today.”

Yet, as Frémeaux continued, the challenge of producing 52 episodes of 11 minutes (or as he put it, a nine-hour movie) was a huge undertaking. “Once storyboard was locked, we had to deliver a full episode’s animatic every week. And to do that, there’s only way I know: surrounding yourself with talented people who understand the project.”

Frémeaux goes even further: “My role as a director is to find people who are better than me at they own field of expertise. Once I managed to achieve that, every piece fell right into place, and the production was very smooth.” A production that was split between Caribara studios in Annecy, Paris, and Caribara Belgian subsidiary Waoooh.

“The key is these large European co-productions is to communicate constantly, and maintain overall cohesiveness throughout the whole pipeline. Animation is, at its heart, a collaborative art, and I strongly believe ‘Migali’ benefits from this collective effort. It would be a far less interesting product if I had created it alone with AI tools.”

“Migali” is AI-free, as the teams received strict instructions during this creative process. While aknowledging its uses, Frémeaux views AI technology as a tool that can’t be part of creating something. “Technology has always been part of the animation industry, which faced similar issues with the introduction of 3D, and other tools that revolutionized the medium over and over. But creativity has to remain at the center of this process, and tools can’t replace artists. Our show is made by people who asked themselves a lot of questions, who made choices in framing, staging, and poured their craft and soul in this series. And that is something that AI can’t do.”

As “Migali” premieres this afternoon, Frémeaux is eager to present this colorful, quirky character to the world. “Much like in our show, Migali is about to discover a whole new world, and I can’t wait to introduce her to global audiences. The series has a lot of potential, and we’ve only scratched the surface of Migali’s universe. There are many more paths and characters we can explore, to build beyond the Royal Academy and introduce children to this loveable IP.”

“Migali” premieres today at MipJunior, subsequently airing on TF1 and other partner broadcasters in the following months. The series is distributed internationally by Moon-Keys International Content.