Tre ragazzi e un bottino

Reasonably diverting, clearly tongue in cheek farce, far better than the last Spy Kids installment. The adult leads were one dimensional and unconvincing, but the female lead provided the most interest and emotional connection for the audience. If you need a cold weather diversion for the kids, consider this.

I'm noting that Catch That Kid was based on a popular Danish film, Klatretosen that only came out a few years ago. There had to be another motivation for what these three enterprising juveniles did because Denmark unlike the USA has socialized medicine and the problem that the kids need the money for wouldn't exist there.

What that problem is that Kristen Stewart's dad John Carroll Lynch has aggravated an old spinal injury that has left him bedridden and paralyzed. The only hope of a treatment is an experimental procedure that our insurance won't pay and will cost $250,000.00 for the operation. So Kristen enlists her two friends, Max Thierot and Corbin Bleu to do a bank robbery.

Getting inside information is easy because Kristen's mom, Jennifer Beals runs a security company and on a take your daughter to work day she accompanies mom and pays very close attention to the procedures installed in the bank that Beal's is contracted to work for.

Although they don't say so, it's pretty obvious these kids were weaned on heist films like To Catch A Thief and The Asphalt Jungle. Cary Grant never pulled off a neater robbery than this trio.

Catch That Kid is a nice enough film that might send a wrong message out there to younger viewers. Truth be told these kids are almost caught, but get some help from an unexpected source. They never should have gotten as far as they did.

Maddy (Kristen Stewart) is a 12-year old girl who loves to climb. Her father has climbed Mount Everest, so it runs in the family. Several years earlier Maddy's father fell more than 100 feet during a climb, and because her parents are afraid she might hurt herself, they have ordered Maddy not to climb. Maddy's father had some internal injuries from that earlier fall, which he didn't know, and now the injury has paralyzed him from the neck down. There is an experimental operation, costing $250,000, which can save Maddy's father. Insurance won't pay for the operation, and the family doesn't have the money. Maddy and two friends break into a high-tech bank vault, designed by Maddy's mother, to get the money. The vault is suspended 100 feet above the ground, and Maddy must use her climbing skills to get to the safe. Her friends use their computer and mechanical skills to defeat the bank's high-tech security. This is a kid's version of Mission Impossible. Kids will like the movie, but adults will just have to endure it with their children. (20th Century Fox, Run Time 1:32, Rated PG) (4/10)

Catch That Kid (2004)

When this film was released I knew it would get criticism, either by the premise of stealing money, or by it's similarities between Spy Kids and Agent Cody Banks. I do not agree that it is like Spy Kids, "Catch That Kid" is a lot better.

The movie is about Maddy Phillips (Kristen Stewart- The Panic Room, Cold Creek Manor), who loves to climb. After an accident on Mt. Everest, her Dad becomes paralyzed, and he can get an operation in Denmark for $250,000- but insurance doesn't pay for it. So, Maddy recruits her two best friends, Austin and Gus, to help her rob a high security bank whose security system her mother created. The safe is suspended 100 feet high, and Maddy must overcome her fear of climbing too high, so that she can save her father's life.

This movie had some really neat climbing sequences, good action, but it lacked a few laughs. Bart Fruendlich manages the security and heist scenes well, and the film has some pretty odd security devices for the bank.

Kristen Stewart is great, she gives a good performance, and her two best friends are also good. The parents are a bit one dimensional, but it doesn't really matter to the kids, which is the audience most likely to be attracted to this movie. When seeing this with your kids, just let them know robbing a bank isn't a good thing, and that it's just a movie. Don't let them take it too seriously, but hey, they're kids. 8/10.

I haven't seen the original movie "Klatretosen" yet but after seeing "Catch That Kid", now I am curious as to what the original is like.

I had seen Kristen Stewart playing Jodi Foster's daughter in "Panic Room" and enjoyed her work, so I wanted to check her out in this movie and was rather impressed.

"Catch That Kid" was a great movie I took my two nephews to see.