Toon Talk
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(c) Dimension Films
Not since the underrated 1995 feature My Family (Mi Familia) have we seen such a strong, positive Latino family unit on screen. Antonio Banderas is best when he plays larger-then-life fantasy characters as he does here and in past films such as Evita and The Mask of Zorro. Carla Gugino (formerly of Spin City) is equally charming as his better half; they smartly avoid the kid flick cliché of parents as overbearing ninnies.
Child actors have often been misdirected in such high tech adventure spectacles, coming off either annoyingly shrill (Jonathan Ke Quan as Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom) or frustratingly bland (Jake Lloyd as Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: Episode I-The Phantom Menace). Thankfully, as these junior g-men, twelve year-old Alexa Vega and eight year old Daryl Sabara are not typically cloying Hollywood brats. They offer naturally winning performances that are the spirited center of the film.
Spy Kids auteur Robert Rodriguez (who not only wrote and directed the film, but was also the F/X supervisor, sound mixer, film editor and camera operator) burst onto the indie scene almost ten years ago with the low budget, ultra-violent El Mariachi. He followed that up with the gory vampire B-flick From Dusk Till Dawn and the bigger budget Mariachi "remake" Desperado, also starring Banderas. While it's quite a leap to go from blood-sucking gunslingers to family friendly fare, he ably adapts his neuevo Latino style to a film aimed at the Pokemon crowd. From it's crayon-colored settings to the slow-mo strut of our heroes (this time under four feet tall), Rodriguez obviously relishes reliving these childhood fantasies through the eyes of his young protagonists. A wise decision, as most films aimed at children have a jaded, adult sensibility, talking down to the characters, therefore the target audience as well.
Rodriquez apparently is still in touch with his "inner spy kid".
Toon Talk Rating: B
Running Time: 90 minutes
Now in theaters. Get
showtimes from IMDB.com
• • •
Toon Talk Trivia
Former Oingo Boingo front man and prolific film scorer Danny Elfman (Dick Tracy, Tim
Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, Good Will Hunting) composed the "Spy
Kids Theme" and well as "Floop's Song", sung by Floop himself, Alan
Cumming.
Cumming also played Rooster Hannigan in the recent Wonderful World of Disney television production of the Broadway musical Annie.
Discuss It
Related Links
- Purchase Spy Kids stuff from Amazon.com:
Soundtrack, Jr. Novel, Storybook, Activity Book - Official Spy Kids site
- Spy
Kids on IMDB
Includes full cast and other film details
-- Kirby C. Holt
Took Talk: Disney Film & Video Reviews by Kirby C. Holt is posted whenever there's something new to review.
The opinions expressed by our Kirby C. Holt, and all of our columnists, do not necessarily represent the feelings of LaughingPlace.com or any of its employees or advertisers. All speculation and rumors about the future plans of the Walt Disney Company are just that - speculation and rumors - and should be treated as such.
-- Posted April 3, 2001