There’s nothing quite new or revolutionary seen in this digital realm; the backgrounds and 3-D effects are what one would expect, and the so-called action sequences are static, with no real momentum or urgency. Even with a twelve hour time frame for the rescue and a limit of ten ‘lives’, these self-imposed story points are ignored or conveniently modified along the way, breaking a cardinal rule of fantasy filmmaking: you can conceive the most fantastical universe imaginable, just remember to play by the rules you created.

As for the 3-D process itself, the usual red and blue glasses are distributed to ticket buyers and, just like with every other 3-D film outside a theme park or IMAX theater, the audience is told by onscreen instructions as to when to put them on and take them off. Now, firstly, all this just takes you out of the story (what little there is of one), reminding you that, hey, you’re sitting in a theater watching a dumb 3-D movie, and secondly, after about 20 minutes, I took the little cardboard frames off for good …

Sorry, but this (hopefully) last Spy Kids flick is not worth me getting a headache for …

• Returning for the third year in a row in the Spy Kids franchise: Robert Rodriguez and actors Antonio Banderas, Carla Gugino, Alexa Vega, Daryl Sabara, Danny Trejo (Uncle Machete), Alan Cumming (Fagin Floop), Tony Shalhoub (Minion), Cheech Marin (Uncle Felix) and Mike Judge (Donnagon Giggles).
• George Clooney (Devlin) also appeared in the first Spy Kids, and Ricardo Montalban, Holland Taylor (Grandmother), Steve Buscemi (Romero), Matthew O’Leary (Gary Giggles), Emily Osment (Gerti Giggles) and Bill Paxton (Dinky Winks) all appeared in Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams.
• Sylvester Stallone also starred in Oscar and Judge Dredd.
• Stay tuned during the credits for outtakes, including a funny bit with George Clooney.

Coming Soon:

• Piglet’s Big Movie makes its small-screen, DVD debut on July 29^th.
• Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan step into the body-switched shoes of Barbara Harris and Jodie Foster in the new remake of Freaky Friday, which actually opens on a Wednesday, August 6^th.
• Lizzie McGuire returns to the home screen when The Lizzie McGuire Movie debuts on DVD August 12^th.
• They had it comin’: the Academy Award-winning Chicago comes to DVD on August 19^th. Extras will include the missing musical number “Class�?, performed by Queen Latifah and Oscar-winner Catherine Zeta-Jones.