Spy Kids

Rating:
Summary: Action Packed!
Review: Recently, there has been a trend in family films: they're getting better. The atrocity of "See Spot Run" aside, the last few years have seen more good PG-or-under-rated fare than just the standard Disney animation. See, for instance, the flawless "Chicken Run," "Princess Diaries," "Road to El Dorado," "The Prince of Egypt," and "Shrek" and you will be able to tell what I am talking about. Now you can add "Spy Kids" to that list.

This film is a head-spinning whirl of invention and brilliance, marred only occasionally by predictability or a poop joke. It must have been a sheer joy to make, because all on-screen appear to be having loads of fun. It's wonderful to see even the normally stone-faced Robert Patrick (the T-1000 in "Terminator 2," Agent Doggit in "The X-Files) having to hold back a grin as a corporate villain. Fortunately for us, this all passes along to the audience. Everyone, and not just the teeny-boppers. With bright, intelligent production design (was that really a yellow submarine I saw?), a light sense of humor, and wonderful pacing, this evokes a grin from even the most concerned parents.

Not that this is all fluff. There is a rare degree of intelligence here, especially for a kid's movie. At one point, a young Hispanic child shouts something, and instead of going the easy route and doing it in English, writer/director Robert Rodriguez uses Spanish, with a subtitle telling us what was said. Not only there, but nearly all the major characters are written with sharp observation. The parents are intelligent, willful, and when they go back into the biz' after retirement, it's because *they* want to, not because the plot does. Even Floop, the villain bent on world-domination, is given sufficient motivation: he's lonely and insecure, and wants to feel appreciated. (Most of this becomes apparent through the brilliant perfomance of Alan Cummings.) And the children...

The two kids are, without a doubt, the center of this movie, and well to do so. As written, they are real siblings, hating and loving each other at the same time. They know each other's weaknesses, they know how to push each other's buttons, but at the same time, they obviously care about each other. This is one tight-knit family. Hollywood needs more like them.

This is also not to say the movie is perfect. It does stray into poop jokes, though only twice, and there is also a predictable plot element involving an estranged brother. However by the time it reaches this point, it has more than enough credit going for us to forgive it.

Before the movie began, there were trailers for nearly all the upcoming family and children's films this summer. Some looked good, some looked mediocre. However, if more are like this, it will be a good year. Kids, do your parents a favor: take them to buy "Spy Kids"

Rating:
Summary: a great first!
Review: this movie was real good!when i first saw the trailer i didint think it would be that good!but we were going to see a movie but the tickets were sold out,so we just decided to go see this!i was surprised of how good it was!this movie is awsome!

Rating:
Summary: OK but Could Have Been Better
Review: We rented Spy Kids and it was ok and had a couple of scenes that were amusing but I think it could have been better. It was okay to watch once but not a movie I could watch again and again. It just didn't live up to all of the hype it received when it was released to the theaters though it did have a great cast, Antonio Banderas, Alan Cumming, etc but the movie seemed like it was rushed and over edited and some scenes are a little choppy and also this seems like a movie that a child would find more appealing then a adult but that is just my opinion.

Rating:
Summary: Ok
Review: This movie was good but older kids such as thirteen or fourteen
might find it rather stupied.It was basicly about two spys who met eachother and got married had kids and never told them about how they used to be secret agents so one day they go on A mission
and get caught so the kids have to go after them and bla bla bla
so on and so fourth.




Rating:
Summary: Cute!
Review: Spy Kids wasn't the best movie I ever saw and parts of the movie dragged a bit but it was mostly a cute movie and good for family viewing!

Rating:
Summary: Don't Watch This Movie
Review: I saw this movie when it first came out in theatres and was incredibly disappointed. I found this strange considering that, at that time, I was the film's target audience. There was so much room for a clever spoof of spies like James Bond, but the whole movie seemed like an insult to spy movies. The film struggles and fails to be funny. At the theatre where I saw it, no one laughed. I suppose the cheap special effects and awful plot are something to laugh at. But it just felt sad.