Spy Kids - Missione 3: Game Over

I just came home from watching it, and everyone is running for the Advils, it seems that the 3-D gave us all headaches. Anyways, here is my review.

I have had a 3-D book since I was a kid, and it came with it's own pair of 3-D glasses. You know the old fasioned kind, the red and blue shaded glasses that gives everything the red & blue tint. It is a very cool book with the old kind of 3-D.

Now, I remember in the 80's, all the NEW 3-D movies had a whole new 3-D. No longer were 3-D movies limited to the red & blue tint that required the red & blue shaded glasses, the glasses that were needed were clear & POLORIZED....it kept the movie in FULL color and gave the 3-D film a cleaner and sharper image.

I heard that this movie was a whole new approach to 3 demention, so I was excited about seeing this. But imagine my surprise when I bought the tickets when they handed me red & blue shaded 3-D glasses.

The only new approach is the computer graphics used in creating 3-D images. Instead of throwing real items towards the camera to make you duck in your seat, now there are computer generated items floating around and flying towards you. The special effects were, as always, top quality...but honestly...there was nothing new or special about the special effects. In reality, you feel as though you've seen it all before.

As for the 3-D effects. I must say how disappointed I was. The color in the film during the 3-D scenes seemed dull and almost a sepia tone, except for the red & blue tint used to make the images in 3-D.

I REALLY expected at LEAST a POLORIZED image for a bolder color and clearer 3 demention. Instead, all I got was a trip down memory lane with the old fashioned 3-D.

Now, if you have never SEEN a 3-D movie, dont get me wrong, it STILL is a spactacular thing to see, and you SHOULD experience it. The kids will LOVE it.

As for the storyline in this film....well, forget it. This wasn't created to carry a plot, it was created to become a cash-cow in the Spy Kids series and used 3-D to draw you in. It worked, but this plot didn't.

And if THIS film doesn't KILL Sylvester Stallone's movie career, then it's ALREADY DEAD! I was never more embarressed for an actor before than I was for him in this one. This was almost like seeing him wave a white flag and admit to being an aging Hollywood cast-away who is grasping at ANYTHING to stay on screen. Think Bette Davis's charactor in "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?"

Oh well. Your kids will love this 3-D mess, and if your easily amused, you might also.

I saw this movie and I loved it! Granted, it's not the best in the series (hands down to 1 and 2, I'm not sure which is better)and the story focuses mainly around Juni (my least favorite character). The plot for this movie is the toymaker has a new game called Game Over (hence the title), and the main puropes is for him to take over children's minds. He kidnaps Carmen, and it's basically up to Juni to save her. Arnold and his friends so could have been left out, or, portrayed by people that can act. The story starts out strong, the action is always there, and other than the fact that the movie is focused on Juni and him alone, that's probably the only glich that this movie has. Don't let the 3-d thing get to you, it's not that hard. However, if one is going to see it, they had better come with an open mind about movie making and special effects.

Juni Cortez is no longer with the OSS and is now a private detective, taking work where he can get it. However, the President himself requests Juni return to service as his sister is in danger. She has entered, and become trapped in, a deadly video game called Game Over which has been designed by the Toymaker. In it he ensnares children's minds forever. Juni is sent in to rescue her and team up to stop the Toymaker's evil plot. Enlisting his grandfather's help, Juni sets out to win the unwinable level 5.

I usually don't enter a film series in the middle simply because it is often difficult to appreciate the third instalment of anything without having seen what has gone before. However, when it comes to a kids' film, I was pretty sure that I could managed to battle through the labyrinth-like plotting of the Sky Kids series! I started watching this film in 3-D (I had a 2 dvd set) but the glasses were a little uncomfortable and the colours looked funny all the way through. After seeing a few items sort of float vaguely around my television I was quite unimpressed and decided just to go with the 2-D disk. The plot is pretty thin (it's never really clear what the attraction of the game is or what the Toymaker even wants) but it sets up a colourful and enjoyable little ride through a computer game - which is delivered pretty well despite all it's silliness!

The main weapon in the Spy Kids' cannon is it's stars - both actors and director. Rodriguez is a very good director when it comes to style and action and his influence makes this film a lot more fun than others likely would. He is slick but also fully aware that he needs to make it `fun' and not just colourful and noisy. It's all a bit silly of course but the 3-D gimmick is a little bit heavy at times (like the old films in the 50's that had actors punching at the screen) but it isn't that bad. The reason the silliness doesn't really damage the film is because the actors seem to play to it - and a very fine series of performances these are. Pretty much all the cast are good fun and their performances are about as hammy and fun as you can imagine. Sabara is great fun - a cool kid without any of the horrid cutesy stuff that can happen. I found Vega less fun as she was a little too smart for my liking, but she was still fun and the rest of the kids were suitably fun with not a bad performance between them. The adult cast will provide much of the fun for the adults watching - there is a large number of Rodriguez regulars in the cast who all overplay to suit the sense of fun the film has.

Montalban is great fun. Forever Khan in my mind, he has a great voice and screen presence and he heavy makes the message of forgiveness work reasonably well and not just being mawkish like it should be! Stallone hams it up and has good fun even if his multiple personalities don't totally work. Clooney has fun in his small role but the rest of the cast are all cameos some of them are used pretty well and got a giggle but others just show their faces. However, they don't detract from the film and it at least will amuse parents to see people like Martin, Trejo, Cumming, Shalhoub, Buscemi, Paxton, Wood and Hayek. The out takes at the end made me realise how good the performances were - it just never dawned on me that, although I knew it wasn't real, that 95% of this was shot on greenscreen - making acting to anything that little bit harder.

Overall, this is a silly film but it is one that kids will love. The sheer sense of fun that Rodriguez brings to it is infectious and makes for a great 90 minutes with the kids. The star cast made it more enjoyable for me and helped the sense that everyone was just enjoying themselves. It is hardly a great film but it does just what you expect it to do and who can ask anymore than that? On the basis of this I will definitely be watching the first two films when I cross their paths. Sad - but true!

I will say this, the Spy Kids franchise was certainly a different piece of movie fare on the grand landscape of kids movies. Sadly, while Spy Kids 3D was interesting and different, it also proves to be rather shoddily acted and written. It seemed to lack the charm of the original movies, and while the 3D effects and the story seemed attractive and what-not, it just didn't fall through. This will definitely be the weakest of the saga, but fun nonetheless.

I enjoyed Spy Kids 1 & 2 but this one was a waste of time. The 3D gimmick was unnecessary and not that effective. I found it very blurry for a lot of the time and took the glasses off.

Daryl Sabara is not improving as he gets older, he gets more irritating. In fact most of the kids were irritating. ( With the exception of Alexa Vega and Courtney Jines). It had some funny lines but not as witty as the first two. The noir style opening would have gone completely over the heads of the main target audience. Sylvester Stallone was good as were the cameo appearances by George Clooney, Elijah Wood, Bill Paxton and Steve Buscemi.

The computer generated sets looked tacky. And the bald wig on one of the Stallone characters looked like a prop from a small town repertory theatre. I was looking forward to this but I was very disappointed. It was made by the bean counters not the creative people.