There’s a slim possibility that this film’s title might tempt you to imagine it is part of the same universe as Disney’s Frozen. A charming spin-off perhaps, involving a minor character on their own side-quest? It certainly won’t have crossed anyone’s minds at any stage that sleep-deprived parents desperately seeking all things Frozen-related might spot this instead and think: “It’ll do.” Unfortunately, it won’t.

This is part of the Egg Movie/Huevos franchise from Mexican studio Huevocartoon, and the plot of this latest one concerns a cute baby polar bear, stolen from his parents and his icy home by a trio of kind-of pirates-slash-circus-folk. He then faces a long journey back home with the help of a ragtag band of chickens, eggs and penguins.

It’s par for the course in family animations that there be at least one larger than life comic character (Olaf the snowman, Timon and Pumbaa, Sebastian the Crab and so on) – but when they’re done badly, they are without fail a film’s dismal nadir; here, half the characters fall into this category. Winning, by a narrow shave, the coveted title of most annoying would be a manic gaggle of wisecracking penguins, essentially a bad cover version of the ones in Madagascar. The helpful chickens, in contrast, call to mind the more earnest characters from Chicken Run, without managing to make you root for them, or care if they resolve their personal growth narratives.

Overall there’s the distinct sense that someone fed a bunch of better movies into an AI program and this is the result, but unfortunately humans will have to take the rap for this one. Until AI can successfully replicate qualities such as charm or wit, we’ll have to live with the fact that human beings are just as capable as robots of making useless films.

• Little Eggs: A Frozen Rescue is in UK and Irish cinemas from 29 March.