Spy Kids (2001)
Director: Robert Rodriguez
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Ingrid (Gugino) and Gregorio Cortez (Banderas), semi-retired government spies, are called back to the ranks following the demise of their erstwhile colleagues at the hands of kids' puppet-show host and techno wizard Feban Floop (Cumming) and his assorted army. Ingrid and Gregorio disappear and the Cortez children (Vega and Sabara) have to don the jet-packs, slide on the computer specs and save the world. One-time rebel director Robert (El Mariarchi) Rodriguez treads a neat line, reversing a common (and mistaken) emphasis in kids' movies. He plays the danger/adventure lightly, and treats the garish design, environments, effects and various gadgets with the gravitas demanded by the young connoisseur. In terms of its family ethos, this makes an interesting comparison with the Addams Family films. Refreshingly, both portray a sexualised parental relationship and view family as a specialised enclave, within which audacity and independence are accepted. The plot deviations are endless and confusing, but children can handle that, no prob.Author: WH
Cast & crew
Director: Robert Rodriguez
Producer: Robert Rodriguez, Elizabeth Avellan
Cast: Antonio Banderas, Carla Gugino, Alan Cumming, Teri Hatcher, Cheech Marin, Danny Trejo, Robert Patrick, Tony Shalhoub, Alexa Vega, Daryl Sabara, George Clooney full cast
Genre(s): Children's
Duration: 88 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
To the letter
Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.
Mind over matter
David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.
Fool's gold
Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.
We are the championed
Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."
A history of violence
Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.
True romantic
James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.
Playing in the dark
MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.
Junk bonds
Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.



What do you think?
Post your review now