Super mediocre is more like it. Or super underwhelming. This family animation about a baby with superhero powers is adapted from a children’s book series by the bestselling Swedish crime novelist Camilla Läckberg, but with almost no feel for its target audience. It’s pitched at very young kids (if you ignore the dodgy gag about a new mum breastfeeding her baby’s father). But Super Charlie is seriously lacking a sense of fun or a silly streak to tickle little funny bones – it’s as if the film-makers have never met anyone under five.

Willie (voiced by Alex Kelly in the English-language version) is a 10-year-old in a deep pit of disgruntlement following the birth of his baby brother, Charlie. “How long will he be this useless?!” His exhausted parents are too busy for him so when Willie discovers that Charlie has got super powers, he decides to claim the glory for himself (making an “S” for sidekick T-shirt for little Charlie). There’s an elaborate backstory to explain the villains, another pair of siblings with a plot to take control of the police force using robo-police suits.

There is a serious theme here about the hurt and resentment a child can feel at being usurped by the arrival of a new baby. But Super Charlie doesn’t have anywhere near the heart of a Pixar; it simply chugs along, bland and a bit unimaginative. It doesn’t have nearly enough fun with its pint-sized superhero either. The Boss Baby got plenty of mileage out of a baby carrying a briefcase, and little Jack-Jack in The Incredibles was cute as well as mighty. Poor Super Charlie is destined to be no one’s favourite child.

• Super Charlie is in UK and Irish cinemas from 15 August.