Spy kids 2: Espions en herbe

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.

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.

After enjoying some success with the surprisingly enjoyable & cheesy "Spy Kids," Director (and all around good guy) Robert Rodriguez now brings forth a sequel, "Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams" which is far less enjoyable and far more cheesy. As a matter of fact, you'd be hard pressed to find more cheese anywhere outside of a Wisconsin dairy farm.

Juni and Carmen Cortez (Daryl Sabara and Alexa Vega) are back, now officially a part of OSS, and officially recognized as Spy Kids. But the OSS, just like every other government bureaucracy, cannot resist expanding upon a good thing, so now there is an entire army of "spy kids" at their disposal; but Juni and Carmen are, of course, the most renowned.

Within in the first opening minutes of the film, which takes place in a truly inspired theme park, we quickly discern that Juni and Carmen have rivals: the Giggle kids (Matthew O'Leary and Emily Osment) who dearly covet the Cortez' fame and status. With help of their conniving father (Mike Judge), the Giggles do what they can, not only to surpass the Cortez family, but to humiliate them as well.

Once again, we find the greatest threat to the OSS is the OSS itself, along with the internal politics and treachery which played a small but significant part in the plot of the first film. It seems as if the OSS is more of a threat to world peace than a help, and one wonders why Uncle Sam doesn't just shut the operation down and call it a day. Perhaps it would prevent the making of any more "Spy Kids" movies, which I'm beginning to think would be a very good thing.

The plot revolves around a device known as a "transmooker" -- which can be best described as the ultimate cloaking device, even able to cloak entire islands off the map. It also has the wonderful ability to render all electronic devices useless, which is quite a thorn in the side of the intrepid Spy Kids, who's reliance on James Bond style fancy gadgets is only a shade less than an alcoholic's dependence on his next drink. Of course the transmooker itself is an electronic device, but somehow is immune to its own nasty effects. (Only in Hollywood....)

So our two heroes, Juni and Carmen, locate the cloaked island, where the stolen transmooker was taken, and attempt to find it before their rivals, the Giggles kids, do. The island turns out to be a retirement resort for every single monstrous creature ever created by Ray Harryhausen ("Jason and the Argonauts," "7th Voyage of Sinbad," etc.). Except we are told that they were created by the socially insecure and somewhat troubled scientist "Dr. Romero" (Steve Buscemi) who was looking for some companionship, and a portable zoo. But of course those of us who've seen a few movies in our time know better.

During the same time, there is a completely boring and totally unnecessary sub-plot involving Carmen & Juni's parents and grandparents. The only reason the subplot exists is to cloak this poor homage to Harryhausen as a "family film." Yeah, right. I certainly fell for it.

Hollywood films, especially action-adventures and sci-fi flicks, often ask the audience to suspend logic and rational thought while the plot thickens. It is the price we pay, beyond the ticket price, for the pleasure of being "entertained." But Spy Kids 2 doesn't just ask for a suspension of belief, but a wholesale slaughter of anything remotely resembling intelligence. That's a big price to pay, and one I was unable to justify.

If Daniel Rodriguiez is such a fan of Harryhausen, then he should make "The 8th Voyage of Sinbad" or some such thing, rather than trying to find a way to incorporate Ray's creatures into a movie allegedly about espionage. The CGI recreations of Harryhausen's monsters was one of the more enjoyable aspects of this horrid film, but not enough to pull it out of the slimy pit in which very poor writing knocks it into.

The dialogue is stupid, even for kids to listen to. Most of the jokes fall as flat as the acting. Much of the cuteness and fun of the first Spy Kids film is completely lacking in the sequel. Instead, we have a very disjointed plot, an adventure that leads to nowhere, and a subplot that should have been locked in the submarine where it mostly takes place.

My Rating: 4/10

The first "Spy Kids" is an incredibly over the top but entertaining film for younger audiences and even though I still recommend this sequel I think that its just a little too over the top. Story is of course about Carmen (Alexa Vega) and Juni (Daryl Sabara) who have become top spies for their agency but now they are in competition for the best jobs by another brother/sister spy team. A gadget called the Transmooger that can shut down any defense system is stolen from the President and Juni is blamed for his carelessness. The Agency sends Gary (Matthew O'Leary) and Gerti (Emily Osment) who are the children of Donnagon (Mike Judge) who is in charge of Operations so Carmen hacks into the computer and has the mission changed so that she and Juni are sent instead. They travel underwater to an island that is invisible and inhabited by strange looking creatures but they have to hurry because Gary and Gerti will be showing up eventually to get the Transmooger that they are trying to find as well. The meet Romero (Steve Buscemi) who is hidden underground because he was the one that created all the creatures and he thinks they want to kill him. Meanwhile, Gregorio (Antonio Banderas) and Ingrid Cortez (Carla Gugino) are in pursuit to find their children along with the help of Grandfather (Ricardo Montalban) and Grandmother (Holland Taylor).

Not only did Robert Rodriguez direct this film but he also wrote, edited, produced, scored and did the production design. I'm sure he did other things as well and this shows that he remembers his days as a poor independent filmmaker with this type of self reliance. Rodriguez has a wild imagination and its not uncommon in his films for him to throw everything at an audience but the kitchen sink. This film is chock full of digital effects and at times it bordered on being more animated than live action. As much as I enjoyed the first film I always told people that I thought it would be even better if the story was more simplified. Have the kids in more realistic situations like James Bond but instead we got a cartoonish film with walking thumbs and gadgets that even Bond himself would laugh at. Here in this sequel it goes even more over the top with such outlandish situations that even Indiana Jones would be clueless. I couldn't decide which was more incredible, the giant monsters on the island or the fact that parents were sending their small children out on dangerous missions to save the world! Another thing I noticed was the sister of Haley Joel Osment who plays one of the other spy kids. It may be too soon to judge her but after watching Emily Osment's performance in this film she should beg her brother for acting lessons. She has an eternity to go. I am recommending this film for its wild imagination and high tech energy and their are some nice tributes to the great Ray Harryhausen but if they continue to make these sequels they might want to think about simplifying the stories.

As the story begins, Juni and Carmen Cortez are agents on the rise in the new Spy Kids division of the OSS. Despite all their impressive skills and accomplishments, they're denied a promotion in the agency as a result of blatant nepotism. Still determined to make their mark, and much more importantly to upstage a pair of rival agents, they intervene in a mission to travel to a mysterious island and retrieve a sophisticated thingamajig that could be a potent threat if it falls into the wrong hands. Engaging sequel is far less cheesy than its predecessor, has a much better story, and lots of imaginative visual effects accompanied by exciting, cliffhanger action scenes. Overlong, and still corny at times, but has just enough of the right ingredients to entertain all audiences. ***