Spy Kids (2001)

I had never seen this movie because
it was hard for me to accept that Robert Rodriguez would go from making films
like Desperado and From Dusk Till Dawn to making children flicks.
In this 2001 action comedy children’s feature director Robert Rodriguez
presents to us the first adventure of Carmen and Juni Cortez (portrayed by
Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara) the children of international super spies Gregorio
and Ingrid Cortez (portrayed by Antonio Banderas and Carla Gugino). After their
parents have been kidnapped by the manipulated Fegan Floop (portrayed by Alan
Cumming) the Cortez siblings must learn about their parents’ past in a hurry so
they can spring into action and save them from Floop and the evil Alexander
Minion (portrayed by Tony Shalhoub).

Before I had watched this picture I
had previously seen some scenes of Rodriguez’s other children’s flick Shorts,
so I had a bit of an idea of what to expect. Spy Kids offers good
visuals, great comedy and big imagination. The film is good, but I wouldn’t
consider it perfect because even though it may be bring a lot of new stuff to
the table (for example the goofy mutants and robots created by Floop) it is a
bit hard for the audience to digest all of these new things. But even though
they are a bit difficult to digest I think they are very creative, so kudos for
that. The movie overall is very good, it brings you back to your childhood (if
you’re an adult or a teenager) and it makes you want to be a secret agent if
you’re still a kid. One thing I really love about this feature is that
Rodriguez, sticking to the Latino side of him like he does most of the times,
gives us Latino characters which I appreciate very much because it shows me
that someone out there really cares about showing off his roots. So overall it
is a very imaginative movie, like most of Rodriguez’s, and children’s flick perhaps
one of the best of the previous decade.

Rating:
4 stars out of 5.