O Agente Teen

Blatant rip-off of Bond movies for the teen set. It's been done so many times that it doesn't seem to matter anymore.

I really liked it, but then I was going into it knowing what it was and just had fun. I didn't detect any pretension that the film-makers thought it was anything more than it was: a thoroughly enjoyable piece of fluff with a couple of very attractive stars. I was surprised on one or two occasions when Muniz appeared to be doing some stunts that didn't involve wire work to see that this boy has action man potential.

This is the kind of movie that will have the young set whooping with delight. That hottie Angie Harmon also provides interest for older male viewers.

Taking advantage of a couple of hot teen television properties at the time, MGM fashioned this fantasy for kids about a typical teenage boy with one big secret. Agent Cody Banks is a CIA operative, part of a special program that trains kids for special missions. And in the title role Frankie Muniz gets to do them, providing he's not grounded.

The other hot property at the time was Hilary Duff who was in Disney's Lizzie McGuire series while Muniz was doing Malcolm In The Middle. She's Frankie's assignment, Duff is the daughter of a scientist who's gone missing and Frankie has to both protect her and find out what's going on.

It's something big all right, scientist Martin Donovan has invented some kind of artificial life that will eat anything carbon or silicon based. That could wreak a lot of havoc in the wrong hands.

Donovan is Duff's father, as for Muniz's parents they are unbelievably clueless, but that's part of the charm of these films. One who's not clueless is Muniz's immediate superior and handler Angie Harmon. She's got a great scene in the prep school where Muniz has been put to be close to Duff with some of the adolescent males there.

Agent Cody Banks with the star power of two current teen idols made a lot of money, so much so a sequel was made. Now if they had really wanted to do something different, they'd have made Duff the secret agent with Muniz her assignment.

The film talks a shy adolescent (Frankie Muniz) who's submitted to jokes from his school fellows but he's really a CIA undercover agent . He's assigned by his chief (Keith David) for one dangerous mission , he then meets a teen girl (Hillary Duff) whose father (Martin Donovan) is a scientific working in nanotechnology industries for the nasties (Ian McShane and Arnold Vosloo) . The teen is helped by an attractive agent (Angie Harmon).

The plot is a little bit ridiculous , but we're in a spoof comedy and it is narrated in fast movement ; besides , abound the surprises , being very funny and bemusing . In the film there is suspense , comedy , emotion , action-packed , tongue-in-cheek and chases galore with impressive velocity pursuits . The screenplay is nicely developed as well as characters and the frenetic action united to excellent special effects that are varied of these too . From the beginning until the end the amusement and entertainment is continued . The humor moments are in charge of Frankie Muniz with his abundant botches and goofs that happen when he must confront perils and risks against the villains . It's a spoof of James Bond's films , even there's a flying artifact like in ¨Thunderball¨ , plus a role type ¨Q¨ , a weapons deliverer , who teaches the various gadgets which Cody Banks will subsequently use . Exciting final facing off between the protagonists and the baddies on the mountain headquarter is breathtaking and special mention to the habitual villain Arnold Vosloo (The mummy) , he is terrific. Colorful cinematography by Denis Crossan ; the exterior of the CIA headquarters was shot on location in the Academic Quadrangle at Simon Fraser University near Vancouver , this location is popular for films shot in this city . Atmospheric and lively musical score by John Powell . The motion picture was professionally directed by Harald Zwart (One Night at McCool's , Commando Hamilton , Pink Panther 2). Rating: Enjoyable and nice.

"Agent Cody Banks" sticks Banks (Muniz), a 16 year old high school student and CIA junior agent, in the middle of a 007 plot clone with a nemesis who's out to extort nanobot technology from a good-guy scientist to control the world. Banks' mission is to get close to the scientist's hottie daughter (Duff) so he can...um, save the world. This kid flick has the same kind of high tech stuff, great sets, and production value we come to expect with 007 or MI flicks including martial arts, X-boarding, etc. all built around a teen puppy love story centerpiece. A fun action guy flick for kids which gets moving quick and never slows down. (B)

Kiddie spy flicks have become something of a new trend, resulting in the first spin-off since Spy Kids other than the original franchise. To say the least, this film falls way short of that expectation. Yes, the film had cool gadgets, and some decent sequences, it just seemed to lack where Spy Kids excelled. There wasn't that innocent charm or the silliness, for it seemed to be replaced by sexual innuendos and teenage hormones. Unfortunately, this series will most likely get more sequels, which means they have at least another chance to make up for their mistakes.