Agent Cody Banks

What's the Plot?

Cody Banks (Frankie Muniz) appears to be a typical teenager - he's into skateboarding, he hates maths, he has trouble with his homework and doing his chores, his little brother bugs him and he's useless when it comes to talking to girls. However, his parents (Cynthia Stevenson and Daniel Roebuck) are unaware of their son's biggest secret: Cody is an elite undercover agent for the CIA. What they thought was a normal summer camp that they sent him to, was in fact a top-secret facility to train up agents for the CIA to help keep the world safe. When all adult agents fail, Cody is called in by his unbelievably hot boss, Agent Ronica Miles (Angie Harmon) for his first assignment. Cody must relocate to a new high school and befriend Natalie Connors (Hilary Duff), a beautiful girl who happens to be the only daughter of top scientist, Dr. Connors (Martin Donovan). The CIA believe that Dr. Connors is being forced to develop a dangerous new nano-technology by Brinkman (Ian McShane) and his evil cohort, Molay (Arnold Vosloo). So all Cody has to do is learn how to talk to his dream girl, pass maths and save the world. Piece of cake, right ? Shame the $10 million spent on training Cody didn't teach him how to talk to girls !

The Review

Right from the outset, Agent Cody Banks shows it's True Lies-like colours. The pint-sized hero saves the day, then casually disappears into the crowd, keeping his identity secret. He does a skateboard maneuver not unlike Michael J. Fox in Back To The Future whilst he rescues a baby from a runaway car which lets us know that this ain't no ordinary schoolboy. Muniz, best known for his TV Malcolm In The Middle role, reprises this character to good effect as a boy trying to be normal and fit in with everyone despite being far from normal.

There's still that slight underlying cockiness to him but, yet again, it only enhances the fact that this is a teenager trying to be cool whilst dealing with all that life throws at him at that age. Out of the rest of the cast, the other pearl is Harmon's sexy, sassy Agent instructor. From her initial appearance accompanied by the song "It's Getting Hot In Here" - which follows her throughout the entire film - to her kicking ass along with Cody in the OTT finale, Harmon achieves the desired effect of affecting most males hormones min outfits that MUST have been sprayed on rather than squeezed on.

The rest of the story moves along at a zippy pace with nice touches sprinkled here and there - a panicky CIA trying to do a crash course on how to talk to girls using everything from virtual reality to feminists; a parental lock installed on Cody's X-Ray specs to stop him having too much fun at a party; a base for the villain to rival anything from the Bond movies with mono-rails, a "T minus 3 hours and counting" announcement and a huge globe of the world at it's center - all these plus a fun twist on the famous "white room" scenario from Mission: Impossible with Cody hanging from the ceiling in a sound-sensitive room, add up to make a highly enjoyable time out at the flicks with the family. It's success has already green-lit a sequel, so be prepared.....Bond with braces ?

STEVE'S SCORE