Review: You have to give Robert Rodriguez credit. He had a huge hit last year with Spy Kids and with its success he was able to crank out a script for a very solid sequel, shoot it, edit it, and get it into theatres within 12 months...all while he was writing and prepping El Mariachi 3 (Once Upon A Time in Mexico) for a 2003 release.

The man works well under pressure.

Sure, Spy Kids 2 has cracks in it, there's some rushed looking effects, some logic thrown right out the window...but in one way, that is what makes these Spy Kids films so, well, charming.

Harmless is actually the word I should be using. Of course, harmless is relative...my harmless is, in most cases, probably not the same as your harmless. The thrills and chills never really have you too worried for the main spies Juni and Carmen. I mean, I spent my childhood watching Sunday morning films that Rodriguez seems to have used as a guideline for this…films like Jason and the Argonauts, Clash of the Titans with their Ray Harryhausen style creatures. Rodriguez must have spent a lot of time doing the same and wanted to show his thanks with his genetic mutations in the designs.

Like their characters, Alexa Vega (Carmen Cortez) and Daryl Sabara (Juni Cortez) seem more sure of themselves in this outing and really seem to be clicking as a brother/sister duo. It also helps though that director/writer/editor/producer/handyman Robert Rodriguez keeps the film moving at a pretty brisk pace so as to keep the kiddies interested.

Rodriguez uses action, low brow humour, pratfalls, simple childlike realities and some wildly bizarre little creatures (including a flying pig called a Spork) so that there is always something happening on screen as Juni and Carmen try to retrieve something called The Transmooker Device. You can tell The Transmooker Device is important because "It's big, it's round and it's in the middle of the room!". That's a line from the film that shows that the series hasn't lost its tongue in cheek approach.

Of course the Spy Kids are needed this time out...if The Transmooker Device is put into action all electronic devices all over the world will be shut down, essentially halting civilization as we know it.

And if that wasn't enough, Rodriguez introduces us to a couple of rival Spy Kids, the Giggles (one of which is Haley Joel Osment's sister and boy do they ever look alike!). And the way that Rodriguez introduces them in the opening segment, in fact the first ten minutes is so over the top one almost expects a better movie than we get. Not that this is a bad film, it's just hard to live up to the first portion where you get a tour of the most insanely over the top amusement park I defy anyone not to laugh at just one of the 'rides'. (My personal faves are The Juggler and The Whipper Snapper)

Essentially, if you liked the first flick, you should like this…it has fewer surprises as we are beginning to understand the world these kids inhabit a little better…it suffers from a few weak jokes and some heavy handed messages but that is not its worst crime.

Its worse crime is having Steve Buscemi play essentially the weakest role in the film. Rodriguez has used Buscemi before to great effect in the opening of Desperado but here he is just a plot moving character. He shows up, gives some much needed explanation to the Spy Kids as to what is going on and then he slips into the background.

However, despite the waste of talent that Buscemi represents, he does get a surprisingly interesting line for what is technically a kids film. He fears his creatures, his creations and has never ventured outside his home into the island since they escaped. As he mumbles he utters the line "Do you think God stays in heaven because He's afraid of what He's created on Earth?" An interesting concept...one that probably slips right by most eight years old, but the one who it doesn't slip by...I want to see his films fifteen years from now.

I have to give this flick a three…at least one star for it's bizarre opening, another star for just a few of the facial ticks that Antonio Banderas seems to use only in these Spy Kids flicks. It is as if only Robert Rodriguez knows how to use Banderas' knack for comedy to any real effect in his films. Perhaps these two should collaborate on a more adult movie and make use of these talents to their fullest. And finally, another star for just being a kids flick that reminds us of the films we watched as children, and are just as entertaining.

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Copyright© Written By: Rob Paul
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