Review of Spy Kids (2001) by Van R — 28 May 2010

The pint-sized protagonists in "Sky Kids" do the darnedest things to save their imperiled parents from a mad scientist and his indestructible army of android urchins. This far- fetched, fast-paced, family-friendly fare fuses over-the-top 007 action sequences with childhood classics like "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" and "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory." Surprisingly, writer & director Robert Rodriguez's whimsically eccentric but warmly entertaining comedy thriller doesn't pander with the usual lowest common denominator humor and histrionics. Newcomers Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara behave neither like obnoxious ragamuffins nor precocious brats. Rodriguez forgoes the farce of the "Home Alone" movies and the flatulence of "See Spot Run." Instead, he treats us to a yarn as wholly innocent as it is implausibly outlandish. Not only does "Spy Kids" qualify as a must-see for twelve-year-olds, but also Rodriguez has revamped the kids' action movie genre with style to spare!

"Spy Kids" unfolds in the near future. Espionage agents have replaced armies, and Gregorio (Antonio Banderas of "Desperado") and Ingrid (Carla Gugino of "Snake Eyes") are the best. As spies on opposite sides, they receive orders to kill each other. Ironically, they fall in love, resign, marry, and raise two elementary school age children: Carmen (Alexa Vega) and Juni (Daryl Sabara). Now, our ex-spies serve strictly as "consultants," until several secret agents vanish without a trace. Gregorio launches a search, and Ingrid accompanies him. No sooner have they entrusted their kids to Felix Gumm (Cheech Marin "Up In Smoke") than chief villain Fegan Floop (Alan Cumming) traps our adult duo.

Fegan Floop masquerades as a loopy "Willy Wonka" type villain with his own popular children's TV show called "Floop's Fooglies." Imagine Pee-Wee Herman on the prowl. Floop operates from an offshore castle shaped like an old battered boot with a candelabrum of Disney-like towers sprouting from it. Floop kidnapped those secret agents and mutated them into bizarre circus freak characters. Behind the scenes, Floop and Dr. Alexander Minion (Tony Shalhoub of "Monk") scheme to replace the children of celebrities and world leaders with robotic clones. Mr. Lisp (Robert Patrick of "Terminator 2") wants to buy them, so he can dominate the world. Dastardly Floop sends agents after Carmen and Juni, but the siblings elude his Thumb henchmen. Literally, these guys are all thumbs: thumbs for heads, hands, and legs. Carmen and Juni fill their parents' shoes and thwart evil.

Director Robert Rodriguez, whose credits include "Desperado," "From Dusk Till Dawn," "Four Rooms," "Road Racers," and "The Faculty," has come a long way since 1992's "El Mariachi." Typically, he saturates his sagas with buckets of blood & gore, so watching the sanitary PG-rated "Spy Kids" comes as quite a revelation. Aside from an occasional outburst of violence, "Spy Kids" poses as little a threat as a "Barney" episode. Nevertheless, Rodriguez stages these melodramatics with such skillful cinematic virtuosity that you find yourself sucked in by the momentum of the action. Indeed, "Spy Kids" qualifies as a superbly made, larger-than-life "Wizard of Oz" with gadgets galore that celebrates family values.