“Sneaks” is a little sneaky.

A brightly colored, music-tinged animated adventure jumping into theaters this week, it presents early on as the story of Edson (voiced by Swae Lee), a high schooler with worn-out sneakers who wins a pair of sick, one-of-a-kind basketball shoes at a Big Apple convention for sneaker enthusiasts. The baller believes the shiny-new kicks will be life-changing for him, helping him earn a hoops scholarship and win the girl he likes.

However, Edson finds he has a nemesis whom he had admired, renowned shoe fiend The Collector (Laurence Fishburne), who won’t let the fact the young man has no interest in selling the Alchemy 24s — even when offered a package that would delight many a sneakerhead — stop him from possessing them.

Soon, though, it’s apparent the hero of this story isn’t Edson. Instead, it’s Ty (Anthony Mackie), who’s … one of the shoes and the brother of the other, Maxine (Chloe Bailey). Aw, man — we liked Edson.

Ty, on the other hand, takes a while to grow on you in this lively but ultimately soulless — if not sole-less — tale. (We’re borrowing that bit of shoe-centric wordplay from the movie, which also offers that sneakers don’t talk but do “Converse” and at one point serves up a bundle of rather inventive Shakespeare-related shoe jokes.)

While Maxine is thrilled that she’s poised to make a difference in a youth’s life — to be worn and enjoyed — Ty greatly would prefer to be preserved in pristine condition. Thus, when The Collector swipes them, Ty doesn’t go along with his sister’s escape plan. Ironically, though, she ends up going to their kidnapper’s footwear-filled lair, while Ty finds himself alone in the bustling New York City.

He is befriended by a worn-out but street-smart shoe, J.B. (Martin Lawrence), who offers to help him — for a price. And now we have our mismatched-buddy-comedy structure in place.

The heart of “Sneaks” is the journey shared by Ty and J.B., each of whom has something to teach the other. However, there are so many other moving parts — other shoes, essentially — that keep said journey from gaining much (sorry) traction.

Plus, neither actor turns in a memorable performance, Mackey (“Captain America: Brave New World”) delivering something run-of-the-mill and Lawrence (the “Bad Boys” franchise) going surprisingly understated given how big we know the comedian can go when he wants to.

The B story, involving Maxine’s efforts to escape from the clutches of The Collector, are a bit more engaging, thanks both to the endearing voice performance turned in by recording artist and actress Bailey (“Grown-ish”). Maxine gets help from other shoes, such as the brainy Whiz (Jonathan Kite).

Among the others contributing voice work to “Sneaks” are Roddy Ricch, who plays “The Forger,” a force of shoe-related evil who has The Collector doing his dirty work; Keith David, as O.G., a shoe who’s been around the block; singer Macy Gray, as bewitching high-heel Adriana; and NBA star Chris Paul, as himself.

“Sneaks” is laced up by writer Rob Edwards — a scribe on the aforementioned recent Marvel Cinematic Universe entry “Captain America: Brave New World” who also worked on Disney animated films “Treasure Planet” (2002) and “The Princess and the Frog” (2009) — who co-directs with Christopher Jenkins (“Surf’s Up”). What they’ve done here is competent but not consuming.

Considering the involvement of Bobbito Garcia — who penned the 1990 Source article “Confession of a Sneaker Addict” and the 2003 book “Where’d You Get Those? NYC’s Sneaker Culture: 1960-1987” and whom the filmmakers enlisted “to ensure the tone, style and personality of ‘Sneaks’ was distinctive and authentic,” as the movie’s production notes state — it’s not surprising that the film first and foremost is a love letter to sneaker culture.

Still, it would be nice if Edwards and Jenkins had found a little space to address the cost of some of the more popular shoes, which can give one sticker shock. The closest “Sneaks” comes to that is that a raffle ticket for the Alchemy 24s costs a cool hundred. (Because Edson’s a volunteer with a local youth club, he gets a free ticket.)

At least — despite one prominent placement of a Nike Swoosh logo — “Sneaks” doesn’t play like a commercial for a specific shoe manufacturer.

It’s easy to admire the film’s fresh and vibrant style — think the “Spider-Verse” movies, if not nearly to that level of artistry — and it may play best with folks who see something in the latest hip sneaker to hit the market that the rest of us do not.

By the time we do get back to Edson, right before his big “midnight madness” basketball game, “Sneaks,” like the shoes the baller starts out with, feels pretty worn out.

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‘SNEAKS’

2 stars (out of 4)

MPA rating: PG (for some action, scary images and rude humor)

Running time: 1:32

How to watch: In theaters April 18

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