Imagine James Bond crossed with "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate
Factory" and you might have an idea of what to expect in "Spy Kids," the best
family movie of the spring. It has just the right combination of giddy
fantasy, exciting adventure, wonderful special effects, and sly comedy to
be ideal for 7-12 year-olds and their families. It is doubly welcome,
especially after the terrible "See Spot Run," and especially because it
features strong females and characters and performers from the Latino
culture.
Carmen and Juni Cortez (Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara) are the
children of Gregorio (Antonio Banderas) and Ingrid (Carla Gugino), once the
cleverest spies in the world, but now loving parents who make a living as
consultants. Or so they say. It turns out that once the kids go to bed,
Gregorio and Ingrid hit a few switches to connect to a command center that
keeps them involved in spy missions, though now from a safe distance.
When the top agents start disappearing, Gregorio and Ingrid
call on "Uncle Felix" (Cheech Marin) to watch the kids and climb back into their
spy gear to go off and save the world. But then they disappear, and it is
up to Carmen and Juni to save their parents, and, while they're at it,
the rest of the world, too. They have to learn to respect and trust each
other.
They also have to learn how to use a bunch of gadgets that
would leave James Bond, Flash Gordon, Dick Tracy, and even Inspector Gadget green
with envy. loved the way that instead of ray guns or other destructive
devices the kids get fantasy versions of the kinds of things kids know best -
bubble gum that gives the enemy an electric shock, silly string that turns
into cement, and, that ultimate dream of any kid, a back-pack-y sort of thing
that enables them to fly. Similarly, instead of scary ninjas or
soldiers, most of the bad guys are either thumb-shaped robot creatures who are
literally all thumbs or a bunch of robot children whose most menacing
aspect is glowing eyes and super strength.
Any good adventure story needs a great villain, and this one
has the always-great Alan Cummings as Floop, the star of Juni's favorite
television program who is also the mastermind of the plot to create an army
of robot children. His sidekick is Minion (Tony Shaloub), who transforms
the captured spies into backwards-speaking, silly-looking mutants for
Floop's show. But one of the interesting things about the movie is that
nearly everyone turns out to be something different than what they or
others thought, even Minion and Floop. The transforming in the movie is
not limited to the mutants.
Parents: Parents should know that the movie includes a little bit of
potty humor (which most kids will find hilarious) and one almost-swear word.
Younger children might be frightened by the mutant creatures, but most
will find them more silly than scary. Characters are in comic peril and
there is a certain amount of head-bonking violence, but no one even gets a
scratch except for one bad guy whose encounter with flames leaves her
having a very bad hair day.
Be sure to tell kids that the thumb-robots were inspired by
drawings writer/director Robert Rodriguez did when he was 12, and ask them
to come up with some pictures of things they'd like to put into a movie
someday. Good topics for family discussion include how to know which secrets to
share, the challenges of siblinghood (a two-generation challenge in the
Cortez family) and the movie's conclusion that spy work is easy compared to
keeping a family together, which is not only more of a challenge, but more
important.
Copyright © 2000-2008, Jupiter Parents
