This is a weird combination of superhero origin, kids saving parents, and invasion movie. It doesn’t quite work and is really slow in some parts. The first twist was well set up and had a great reveal, the second twist felt too easy and much too contrived.
Score: 0
Character
This is where the movie shines. The characters are extremely likeable and for such a huge cast and regular length movie they are well developed.
My favourite was the little girl water bender.
Score: 1
Dialogue
The dialogue is the best and worst you get from a superhero movie combined with the weirdness that is this director’s style. It doesn’t land very well most of the time.
Score: 0.5
Visuals and Music
This movie was the next step after Spy Kids in style and borderline archaic special effects. The aesthetic was there and it was kinda pretty, but still not great.
The music was good but unremarkable.
Score: 0.5
Fun
I enjoyed the movie. I like when the powerless kid doesn’t get super powered at the end. And overall it was a lot of fun. A little slow and that ending just doesn’t sit right with me. It felt too easy and invalidated the kids’ work.
Score: 0.5
Overall
An okay movie with great characters and an unfulfilling ending.
This year I seem to have watched, and reviewed, 73 films. Wow. Below is a list of them in decending star order. Within each catergory they are in alphabetical order.
Villain captured in a cyber prison turns that prison into a game in order to enslave kids minds and …? Spy organization sends kid spy into game to find his sister and shut the game down.
It has serious potential but there was so little story and what there was, was confusing, ableist, or just boring. I spent most of the movie shaking my head or yelling at the main character. The first two were all about family but this one barely makes a cameo out of everything.
Score: 0
Spy Kids 4
It took seven years for people to forget about the last one. This one brings in new kids, new parents, and a very updated OSS. The time manipulation was utterly unbelievable and made my head hurt.
The story did go back to it’s roots and become all about family. The cameos by the original kids was great.
Score: 0.5
Characters
Spy Kids 3
They really tried to make Juni the sensitive outsider here and it failed completely. He’s basically a bumbling idiot. While in the others he and his sister bumble together and solve the problem, in this one the villain is helping him win and his sister is only in a tiny part of the movie.
Stalone is fantastic at chewing the scenery but his character is confused, confusing, and barely above useful. And don’t get me started on the one girl character.
Score: 0
Spy Kids 4
The characters in this were much better and less insulting stereotypes. I like that the boy being hearing impaired doesn’t make him weak, I like that the mom kicks ass while pregnant, I like that the kids are smart again. That being said, they were all a little bland as characters.
Score: 0.5
Dialogue
Spy Kids 3
There’s a scene near the beginning where the main character is talking about family and another character says, “Everyone is family Juni.”
His reply is, “That doesn’t any sense.”
That’s the best description of this movie. Nonsensical drivel followed by insipid dialogue.
Score: 0
Spy Kids 4
It wasn’t great but it wasn’t terrible. There are a few good puns and a lot of clock or time jokes. It’s ok.
Score: 0.5
Visuals and Music
Spy Kids 3
I thought 2 had a lot of 3D gimmicks and stupidity. This one practically based the entire movie on it. It’s cheesy pseudo computer game graphics for the entire movie. It looked bad sixteen years ago and looks worse now. The music was better.
Score: 0.5
Spy Kids 4
It took a few movies but they finally moved back to the hyper-saturated cartoon look of the first one. The action well done and the scenery is great. The music wasn’t fantastic but it was pretty good.
Score: 0.5
Fun
Spy Kids 3
The beginning and the end are a lot of fun and the middle parts are interesting if non-nonsensical and dumb.
Score: 0.5
Spy Kids 4
This was my daughters favourite of the four. She said it’s cause there was a dog and a baby. I liked it because it was a fun kids action movie. It doesn’t hold up to the original, but it was ok.
Score: 1
Overall
Spy Kids 3
Taking out the sibling dynamic from this series was a mistake. This movie doesn’t live up to the first and frankly is one of the worst movies I’ve seeen. It’s not offensive (Except the honeypot, nerd bashing, and ableism) just boring.
Final Score: 1 Star
Spy Kids 4
This movie tried to recreate the whimsy and awesomeness of the first but doesn’t quite get there. It’s bogged down by fart jokes and 3D gags along with a premise that makes my head hurt if I think about it too hard.
I was expecting this to be silly and juvenile. It was, but it owned it to a degree that I never expected. The story is a near perfectly crafted spy adventure, with just the right amount of twists and surprises. What elevates the movie is the purposeful overdoing of literally everything. This is a lovingly crafted homage to spy movies that manages to amp up the silly.
Score: 1
Spy Kids 2
The sequel suffers from the tightness of the firsts writing. Expanding to include more spies and more gadgets and more of everything. It did manage to capture the joy and charm of the first one but it took a while.
Score: 0.5
Characters
Spy Kids
Each character is built as a caricature of a standard spy trope and each one manages to overcome it through depth of character and some surprisingly good acting.
Score: 1
Spy Kids 2
The main actors reprise their roles well if not as well as the first. The characters are a little less intricate to make room for the plot and special effects. The inclusion of Buscemi, Montalban, and Taylor to the cast adds skill and gravitas but doesn’t save from the rest of the poor characters and some truly terrible acting from the villians.
Score: 0.5
Dialogue
Spy Kids
Overall the dialogue is hammy and overblown. It’s fun but nothing extremely special.
Score: 0
Spy Kids 2
The dialogue in this movie is best described as a pale imitation of the first movie.
Score: 0
Visuals and Music
Spy Kids
This was a pretty solid movie for a low budget 2001 film it still looked good. The music was okay both are acceptable.
Score: 1
Spy Kids 2
This did not age well. The special effects look terrible and the constant 3D gimmicks actually hurt the composition of most scenes.
Score: 0.5
Fun
Spy Kids
This movie was fun and consistently so throughout the movie. Wonderful commentary on kids entertainment, spy movies, and family.
Score: 1
Spy Kids 2
This was uneven and there were several times I wished I wasn’t watching it. It really wasn’t terrible.
Score: 0.5
Overall
Spy Kids
Lovely little film that explorers what it is to be family with an impressive absurdity.
Final Score: 4 Stars
Spy Kids 2
It fails to capture the whimsical absurdity of the first and almost completely loses the heart. It’s not a bad movie but it’s not very good.
