When Carmen and Juni Cortez, the two most highly respected spy kids in the OSS, experience a fall from grace, which was not their fault, they decide to take matters into their own hands and assign themselves a coveted mission to recover a device that threatens to shut off all power on earth. To save the world and clear their names, the two face challenges they’ve never seen before, including a powerful cloaking device and a load of crossbred mutant creatures.
Not as good as the first Spy Kids, this movie still has it merits. There are more great, signature, messages about family harmony and such, not to mention even cooler gadgets, but ultimately I did feel that this movie just tried very hard to outdo the first one, which did not work as it melded the genres of spy and real fantasy together. The first one was James Bond meets The Goonies, but this one is more James Bond meets Indiana Jones (in particular, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull), which sort of adds insult to injury.
When Carmen and Juni Cortex, the two most celebrated and respected spy kids in the OSS, experience a fall from grace, which was not their fault, they decide to take matters into their own hands and assign themselves a coveted mission to recover a device that threatens to shut of all the power on earth. To save the world and clear their names, the two face challenges the likes of which they have never seen before including a strange and powerful cloaking device and a hoard of crossbred, mutant creatures.
It is the truth universally known that when a film does well at the box office, if the cash can be found, there will be a sequel. As a result sequels always try to outshine their predecessors with overdone aspects of what was great about the first film, mixed with new genres and stranger stories. Spy Kids 2 sees the James Bond spy genre of film blended with science-meets-imagination and a touch of the supernatural. Although it was still highly entertaining, you did get the feeling that the story was being made up as everyone went along… not to mention that the whole deal with the strange device that shuts off all power still has gaping holes in its explanation.
On the plus side, the movie does make some wonderful points about modern youth’s dependence on technology. Not since Chaplin’s Modern Times have I see such clever points on man’s technological dependence shown. Keep an eye out for those!
All our favourite actors are reprising their roles for a second time and we have the joy of being introduced to new characters, which is always fun. Starring Alexa Vega, Daryl Sabara, Antonio Banderas, Carla Gugino, Steve Buscemi, Mike Judge, Danny Trejo, Cheech Marin, Matt O’Leary, Emily Osment, Alan Cumming, Tony Shalhoub, Taylor Momsen (who I hadn’t seen in a film since The Grinch), Christopher McDonald, Ricardo Montalban, and Holland Taylor, Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams is a good family movie, but not as great as its predecessor.
Filled with action, fantasy, interesting creatures, cool gadgets, rivalry, false accusations, action, and strong messages about familial harmony, it’s still a film that I’ll come back to every once in a while. Plus it features some great jokes after the credits begin to roll where we are introduced to Britney Lopez and Angus Van Santana. See? See? Maybe you should watch it just for that…
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