Review of Spy Kids (2001) by Ben L — 17 Jan 2012

The only tolerable movie of the franchise, the original Spy Kids is a success. It is successful because it lives up to the title, it is a secret agent movie for children. Now in saying that I am also trying to make it clear that this movie is most decidedly not directed towards an adult audience. Not that all adults will dislike it, but they will be less likely to enjoy it.

The special gadgets that the kids (and the bad guys) use are ridiculous, and that's putting it mildly. Although I'm not sure they are that much crazier than some of the stuff you'll find in the later Bond films. If you can just go with the fact that basically anything is possible with the technology in the world of this movie, then you're thinking like the target audience. And the silly technology does add to the story and at least make it plausible that these kids could fight against a villain.

Besides it's not the technology that is important in this movie, it is the story. The story of a family learning to be honest with one another, and a young boy finding self confidence. These stories are definitely handled in a very light and comical way, because you never really feel like there's any danger. In fact the violence is downright cartoony, and you'd almost expect a bomb to do nothing more than leave a character covered in soot. But, as I keep saying, the movie is clearly designed that way intentionally in order to entertain children. As an adult I can see that Spy Kids is an excellent interpretation of spy movies for young people, even though I find it simply OK for my personal tastes.