*** (out of ****)
Starring Antonio Banderas, Carla Gubino, Alexa Vega, Daryl Sabara, Robert Patrick, Tony Shalhoub, and Alan Cumming.
Directed, written, and edited by Robert Rodriguez
2001 PG
As much as I enjoy “Desperado,” “El Mariachi,” and “From Dusk ‘Til Dawn,” all from writer-director by Robert Rodriguez, I was not looking forward to “Spy Kids.” Judging from the previews and children’s movies in general, I had several expectations, and none of them were promising. They are as follows:
1) An almost masturbatory obsession with gadgets and special effects.
2) Frantic camera and editing work in the vein of Jerry Bruckheimer movies.
3) Bad child acting, usually involving children staring at special effects for a good long while and then saying “cool” in unison, just like real-life kids (note sarcasm).
4) Unfunny jokes, usually involving one kid sarcastically stating the obvious for another toddler.
5) Labored plot points to make sure the tykes in the audience understand.
6) Drippy sentiments about how great it is to have a family.
7) Endless pop culture allusions, as if jokes that exist completely within the realm of one particular movie cannot possibly be funny.
Fear of these last five points tends to keep me away from children’s movies entirely, animated or otherwise. It takes a good children’s movie to reaffirm the concept of the family in an original, meaningful way—most don’t, most just put it in out of a sense of pandering—and it takes a really brave children’s movie—Terry Gilliam’s “Time Bandits,” for example—to not reaffirm family at all.
The surprising thing about “Spy Kids” is that just about all of these fears come to pass, but Rodriguez is enough aware of them that he tones them down and works around them. To his credit he avoids these traps by having a genuinely interesting story with something like real satire; he has a hefty ensemble of adult characters to keep the burden of the story from resting too much on the children; and he moves everything at a good enough pace that we’re never that far ahead of the characters. They know about as much as we do, whereas in most children’s movies we’re way ahead of them and just waiting for them to catch up.
Yes, there are lots of special effects. There are robots and clones and mutants and submarines and miniature airplanes and cans that shoot liquid cement—and yes, Rodriguez gets a tiny bit carried away. Yes, there is lots of jittery camera work and constant editing, which isn’t helped by the fact that every frame involves some kind of digital effects, which means that half the screen is constantly shimmering like a mirage—but this is all in service to moving the story as quickly and tightly as possible. Yes, the kids themselves aren’t going to earn any Oscar nominations, but they do hold their ground, especially compared to Jake Lloyd from “The Phantom Menace.” And, yes, painfully, the movie closes with the line “Spying is easy, keeping a family together, that’s hard,” but Rodriguez doesn’t give us a whole lot of annoying build-up; we can almost feel him saying “sorry, I had to put this in because it’s a children’s movie.” To his credit Rodriguez works his machine tightly. Having seen plenty of spy movies, as well as the many establishing scenes in “Spy Kids,” we already know where the hostages are being held and whose holding them. Rather then waiting for our preadolescent protagonists to catch up with us, Rodriguez moves them quickly from incident to incident.
But the story. The previews tell you most of what you need to know: two spies get married, have children, stop being spies, then are kidnapped and only their children (Daryl Sabara and Alexa Vega) can save them. Missing are “Spy Kids’” great villains, who by the way never have to resort to yelling “Get those kids!” First there’s Alan Cumming (so good in Kubrick’s “Eyes Wide Shut” and Julie Taymor’s delightfully deranged Shakespeare adaptation “Titus”), an afternoon television star on the surface, but really a sort of demented Captain Kangaroo crossed with Willie Wonka. Truth be told he’s probably the only pop culture allusion. He sings songs like “aren’t people mean, but if you live my dream you’ll be happy.” Creepy, yes, but sympathetic as well, because he is a lonely, imaginative boy all grown up. His sidekick is Minion—full name Alexander Minion—played by Tony Shalhoub, and their diabolical plan is to make robot children to replace the children of the powerful and affluent. They need something that retired spies Antonio Banderas and Carlo Gubino have, so they kidnap them. At this point their children realize what’s happening, and the chase is on, as the tykes race against Minion’s minions first to reach the MacGuffin, and then to rescue their parents.
The ensuing action is jolly, fast, and fun, with lots of extra silliness packed into each corner. When the kids fly to a new city to meet a long-lost uncle, the name of the city is emblazoned across the screen in big serious letters that read “San Diablo.” When their uncle wakes up in the morning, in a skyscraper above the thriving metropolis of San Diablo, we inexplicably hear a distinct “cock-a-doodle-do” from somewhere. “Spy Kids” has the energy, sense of humor, and good nature that is missing from so many grown-up action movies, which are merely content with technique.
P.S. The heroes of “Spy Kids” have gorgeous Spanish names with lots of curvy lines over the letters. This is a welcome switch in the movies, where Hispanics are almost always portrayed as sidekicks, gang members, or drug dealers.
Copyright 2002 Friday & Saturday Night