Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

When the first Spy Kids movie came out I avoided it like the plague thinking it was another of those cutesy poo kids movies, but we ended up catching it in a hotel room in Niagra Falls and I ended up really enjoying it. So of course when I caught Spy Kids 2 on Korean cable I had to watch.

The Cortez family has been humiliatingly demoted in the OSS, but the kids aren’t taking this lying down. They hack into the OSS system and swipe a plum assignment from the director’s kids hoping that success will get the whole family reinstated and off they go. Mom and Dad are taking the demotion lying down. At least until they find out the kids are missing and in danger and Mom’s parents show up. Everyone rushes off to an island that doesn’t show up on any kind of radar looking for the device that is the focus of the assignment. The kids arrive first and find out the island is populated by weird creatures like spider monkeys (half spider, half monkey). Also, none of their gadgets work so they have to use (gasp) their brains!

This is a kids movie so the plot is … uh … fanciful. It is not dumbed down because it’s for kids, but rather is just made outrageous like the Roger Moore Bond movies. Wacky gadgets, crazy villains, those animals I mentioned earlier. The grandioseness of the plot really appeals to me on a comic book bad guy taking over the world level, only they’re doing it here much better than Marvel has for years.

The design of the movie is fantastic. That was actually they first thing that drew us to the movie. The ship the kids fly to the island in is shaped like a dragonfly. The creatures, if you look at them, are little jokes on legs (a cat with a goldfish head and tail, the bull frog that is half bull and half frog, the flying pig.) In one scene there are fighting skeletons that make me think somebody spent a lot of time watching Ray Harryhausen’s work in Clash of the Titans. The effects are really well done and everything has weight which is a problem I have with most computer effects.

The philosophy is interesting and sound. This bad guy kids in the movie make a comment about how a spy is only as good as his gadgets, but when they get to the island none of their gadgets work. The only thing the kids can rely on is their own intelligence and creativity. There is also a scene between Carmen and Gerti where they talk about playing fair and doing what’s right. It isn’t a heavy handed dogmatic speech either, which it easily could have been. Then there’s the running theme of working with your family. And my ultimate favorite is this little bomb:

Dr. Romero: Do you think God lives in Heaven because He too is afraid of what He created?

That was obviously inserted for the adults watching the movie because you know the kids won’t get it. It’s also one of the earmarks of good fiction. You can’t just say something like that in nonfiction without limiting your audience exponentially, however in fiction you can have a character say something like that knowing that many, many people will hear it and at least10% of them will go "hmmm."

Some of the actors who appear are really entertaining too. Tony Shaloub has a very bit part, but it involves some very crazy prosthetics. Ricardo Montalban is grandfather. Mike Judge is the ultimate bad guy. Cheech Marin, Danny Trejo. Of course, Antonio Banderas is the spy dad and he does a very nice job of spoofing himself as an action hero in the fight scene at the end.

I would not hesitate to show this movie to any child over 10 (who spoke English. My Korean students might enjoy it, but they would have a very hard time following it.) It is very fast paced, but it has a really good, quality story happening. There are lots of visual gags as well so you won’t be bored watching it again and again. This movie is good enough that I might have to lift my personal ban on Stallone movies to see the 3rd installment.


Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12