Spy Kids Review

Carmen Cortez, Alexa Vega, and her brother, Juni, Daryl Sabara, reckon their parents, Gregorio and Ingrid, Antonio Banderas and Carla Gugino, are dead boring. What they Don`t know is that Mum and Dad are retired spies, and when they`re called back into service to help solve the mysterious disappearances of several current spies, the kids have to fly to the rescue when their parents become victims of the plot of a sinister mastermind...Like the Austin Powers films, Spy Kids is a throwback to the more colourful spy films of the 60s - the ones that starred Dean Martin as Matt Helm and James Coburn as Flint especially. The difference is that Spy Kids is aimed at family audiences and the resourceful heroes are children. This is a big departure for director Robert Rodriguez; but the mixture, though pretty familiar and a bit stale at times, works fairly well. There are gimmicks and gadgets, like the car that turns into a boat and a kid-friendly supersonic plane; and there are over the top comic villains, including Alan Cumming, who hams it up outrageously, and Tony Shalhoub whose character goes by the name of Alexander Minion. Banderas and Gugino almost get lost in the shuffle, swamped by the extravagant production design. Spy Kids is a reasonably enjoyable family film.