Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams

On my estimation, this movie maintained what made the first one a good family movie: fun for kids while bearable (maybe even fun) for adults. The feature also shines in its presentation of family, and how to work things out.

If you have seen the trailers, and read the reviews you have an idea of what is in it, so I will not dwell on that. One thing I have not seen elsewhere and I recommend is that you stay on your seat when the film appears to be over, there are quite a few extra treats during and after the credits.

To its credit, "Spy Kids 2" does indeed display a lot of creativity and imagination, and that makes it a lot better than most family movies Hollywood makes. However, while the first "Spy Kids" was a fun romp that kids AND adults would enjoy, this sequel isn't as much fun.

I think the biggest flaw is that this sequel is missing heart. We don't feel the warmth between the family members as we previously did. (Yes, the youthful siblings did fight and disagree a lot in the first movie, but you could still sense a solid bond between them.) There's no sense of the characters feeling danger, excitement, and a sense of adventure as they did the first time around. Instead, there is a coldness, a mechanical feeling this time, like they are very familiar (and almost bored with) with what they are experiencing, even with each other. The presence of two snotty and selfish rival child spies just furthers this somewhat sour tone.

While kids might not mind this too much, I think even they will agree with the second problem I found - the story here is VERY confusing at times. For one thing, the movie seems to start at chapter two, jumping ahead of itself before the audience is set and ready. Then after that, there are a number of moments where we keep thinking "Huh? How did (this character) get there all of a sudden?" and "Huh? What on earth happened off-screen to make (what we are now seeing) happen?" Very annoying. It's all made worse by a pace that is MUCH too fast, even for an adventure of this nature.

Note to Robert Rodriguez: I understand you will soon start "Spy Kids 3". Please not only take notice of what I've said above, but take note of Daryl Sabara ("Juni"). Though not a bad actor, there were a number of instances where he didn't enunciate his dialogue clearly enough, which lead me to rewind back a few seconds and use captions. Please take care of this on set, or at the very least, patch it up during post-production looping.

Another winner in Robert Rodriguez' budding `Spy Kids' franchise, equally as good as the first and showing real potential for the future. Rodriguez is perhaps the only filmmaker of kids' movies that seems to actually listen to what kids want and in the process delivers something every family member can indulge in--it's as delicious as chocolate, with plenty of giggles aimed at the seven to ten crowd and dazzling ideas and humor that parents can appreciate. Rodriguez has an extremely fertile imagination and while his visuals sometimes can't keep up (the digital effects are an occasional letdown) the concepts themselves are so ambitious and delightful that it's easy to look past the brief technological shortcomings. As in the first film, there are plenty of references to family films of the past (most notably `Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory' and the stop-action animation of Ray Harryhausen) and the overall design of both films is very similar. (Rodriguez seems to prefer shooting at twilight, giving everything an orange hue.) But it does seem more expansive, perhaps because he's creative enough to incorporate welcome new characters, such as the kids' grandparents (played with relish by Ricardo Montalban and Holland Taylor) and another brother-sister spy team (Emily Osment and Disney Channel favorite Matthew O'Leary) as well as fresh retakes on characters from the first film (Steve Buscemi takes on the Alan Cumming role). Rodriguez' screenplay once again takes on the theme of family but this time it's carried poignantly throughout (it got dropped rather quickly in `Spy Kids') and the result, coupled with his extraordinary vision, is a film that will thoroughly satisfy just about everyone.

Sibling secret agents Carmen (Alexa PenaVega) and Juni Cortez (Daryl Sabara) rescue the President's bratty daughter Alexandra. Siblings Gary (Matt O'Leary) and Gerti Giggles (Emily Osment) are competing fellow OSS agents. Donnagon Giggles (Mike Judge) is promoted to director of OSS over Gregorio Cortez (Antonio Banderas). Juni is blamed for losing the Transmooker device and fired. The device is tracked to a mysterious island off of Madagascar. Gary and Gerti are assigned by their father to go to the island. Carmen and Juni arrive on the island on their own. They discover their gadgets don't work and the island is filled with weird creatures. Their parents Gregorio and Ingrid (Carla Gugino) set off to rescue their kids with Ingrid's parents (Ricardo Montalbán, Holland Taylor) as stowaways.

Robert Rodriguez continues his kiddie franchise with everybody returning for the sequel. I continue to like the arguing Cortez siblings. I also like the Giggles as their foil. Rodriguez stays with his wild CGI style. There are some Ray Harryhausen-like touches such as the creatures and the warrior skeletons. I think some Rodriguez fans judge this franchise too harshly for being kids movies. This franchise exists as its own thing and should be enjoyed as such.

With slightly larger spies, this relatively young series had to grow up a little, taking on more mature jokes and story, but the all the elements of the first film are still evident. The sister- brother fighting, the fantasy-based story details, the wild technology, and of course, the importance of family are all stressed once again amidst the chaos and the outrageous action sequences. While the special effects don't quite mesh well with the live action, the outlandish references to The Clash of the Titans proved to be hilarious (if you find that kind of thing funny). Anyway, this film proved to be a little better than the first, considering young actors Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara feel a little more natural in their roles as super spy siblings. While the whole Spy Kid network seems a little far fetched, at least it is a movie one could take their kids to without the repercussions of too much violence or sexual content.