The “Spy Kids” movies have always been at their best when the adults are onscreen. Antonio Banderas, who is one of those actors who can switch back-and-forth between serious acting and great over-the-top stuff in the blink of an eye, is sorely underused, as are Carla Gugino, Cheech Marin, and Danny Trejo. George Clooney has a neat cameo as the head of the spy organization, now turned president of the United States. Juni asks him, “didn’t you already control the world when you were the head of the spies?” “Yes,” replies Clooney. “But no one knew it. I wanted people to know I controlled the world, so I made myself president.” Other recurring characters, such as Steve Buscemi, Alan Cumming, and Bill Paxton, return for one or two laughs a piece and then are basically forgotten, leaving the story to our adolescent avatars.
As Juni and Carmen, Daryl Sabara and Alexa Vega are born silent actors. They have real presence and make good use of reaction shots and facial expressions. But they haven’t quite gotten the hang of speaking. Or it might just be that “Spy Kids 3-D” has no real sets, only green screens. This can be likened to minimalist theatre, in which actors must be able to imagine everything, which is no mean feat. Pretty much the same methods were use to combine animation with live action in “Tron” twenty-one years ago; again, no sets and only minimal props, with only a soundstage, costumes, and actors. We may scoff a little at “Tron,” but remember, it had Oscar-nominee Jeff Bridges, Shakespearean actor David Warner, and Bruce Boxleitner of “Babylon 5,” who, like Harrison Ford, is naturally gifted at interacting with nonexistent, special-effects surroundings.
Everything about “Spy Kids 3-D” feels as if it were made in too much of a hurry, except for all the computer animation, which the 3-D effect has made too muddy to be appreciated anyway. The script could have used another draft and the grown-up actors could have been brought in for longer than the couple of days they had to spare between shooting real movies (or, in the case of Mike Judge, between episodes of “King of the Hill”). Poor Robert Rodriguez; I want to tell him, it was a nice try, but try again.
Rodriguez is a cool guy, who loves movies, who loves making movies, who loves every part of making movies, and who just gobbles up every chance to see or have anything to do with one. I like that he’s not above having his actors perform in front of still-shots, perhaps even postcards, of downtown Austin (yes, gentle viewer, it’s not that the capital building in DC has lost weight, that’s what the Texas capital looks like all the time!). This year marks the completion not just of one trilogy he has created, but two. The third installment of the “Mariachi” movies, “Once Upon a Time in Mexico,” if the previews are any indication, may be his best film yet.
A few years ago I heard him speak at the South by Southwest Film Festival, his hair hidden in a bandana, where he eagerly revealed all his secrets of guerilla filmmaking. He still uses many of them, and in “Spy Kids 3-D” is credited as writer, director, editor, and composer. While speaking, it was as if he wanted everyone in the auditorium to go out and make movies, to share in his joy of filmmaking. He closed his speech by saying “look at what I was able to come up with, and I’m a f---ing idiot!”
Finished August 20, 2003
Copyright © 2003 Friday & Saturday Night
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