SPY Kids
Written, Directed and Edited by Robert Rodriguez
Starring: Daryl Sabara, Alexa Vega, Antonio Banderas,
Carla Gugino, Alan Cumming,
Cheech
Marin, Tony Shaloub, Robert Patrick and Teri Hatcher.
(now playing at theaters accessible to all -
ie - multiplexes)
* * * 1/2
(Three and One Half Stars)
An invigorating and pleasing
film from the previously interesting but uneven filmmaker Robert Rodriguez,
SPY
Kids takes flight in a realm of cinematic wonder that gives everything
a sensational gravity and stamps it a kind hearted kid pic. At center,
it is a terrific movie (beyond its affiliation with the rugrat consumers),
a film to be placed alongside the likes of The Goonies
or Labyrinth
(pint-sized heroes riding high adventure for audience pleasure) rather
than the recent wave of so called kid pics, films which seem aimed suspiciously
at my generation and higher (like Antz, Chicken Run, Toy Story 2,
etc.). Though it opens with the standard kids-saving-mom-and-dad, it takes
little time to leap into a plotline involving the devious plot of children's
program host Floop (Cumming) to create hundreds of little robot kids to
spy on people (hence, the....you know), not to mention the Floopies, his
experimental mutations which look like squashed teletubbies. I thought
to myself as I watched: this is a clear cut example of how adolescence
and creativity can be properly balanced to create the ever elusive "entertainment".
Rodriguez's previous outings
all felt like he was using one hand, and therefore they were all, in some
way, slightly spoiled: Desperado was merely a more expensive, more
stylish remake of El Mariachi and both films seemed to straddle
greatness without ever achieving it; From Dusk Til Dawn demonstrates
that a horror film is still a dull old horror film even if envisioned by
Rodriguez through the eyes of Quentin Tarantino (via his script); and his
most recent before
SPY Kids, The Faculty is a near entire
misfire of elements wherein it loses credibility (not to mention the audience)
as a science fiction film and becomes weighed down on all sides by unnecessary
subplots. SPY Kids is a whimsical delight and without ever complicating
itself. With both hands, Rodriguez gets it.....well, he gets it right.
What SPY Kids boasts
that current kiddie fare clearly does not is the sense that being a kid,
though a bummer at times, is a time of fantasy. Here, things look like
fantasy. Conceived with Macy's Day Parade proportions, everything in SPY
Kids is big, colorful and round. The Super Guppy (a boat and submarine
in one) is enormous and yellow and spherical. Floop's castle, his Floopies,
his furniture, his world - - - all seem vibrant, vast and decidedly round.
He even possesses a virtual reality room that encompasses himself and visitors
in graphics, visuals and sound, creating a sensation of overwhelmed wholeness,
a feeling certainly not uncommon to children.
The special effects (done
via videoconference/internet hook-up with the Montreal based effects house
Hybride - - - from Rodriguez's garage, no less) all appear purposefully
exaggerated in order to appear cartoonish rather than seamless and
realistic. (In other words, the colorful world looks as if it fell from
the imagination of a child rather than the hallucinogenic experiences of
its designers). In flowing with the playful, slapstick nature of SPY
Kids, I'd say meshing overblown edges of visual action with the breakneck
pacing of a quality thriller pays off big time.
In tow, there are more than
enough wacky characters to settle into the bizarre universe of SPY Kids.
Banderas and Gugino as successful superspies turned "consultants" are very
attractive as they hum along, gliding with gadgetry and dodging clichés
at every turn. Both Daryl Sabara and Alexa Vega command the screen (rather
than look like kids trying to show a small splash of emotion) as the title
characters...AKA Junie and Carmen, respectively. Supporting turns from
Robert Patrick as the sleaze who commissions the kid robots; Teri Hatcher
and Cheech Marin as OSS (the spy organization which once employed Banderas
and Gugino) operatives; Alan Cumming as the goofy Floop and Tony Shaloub
as his second, who would, of course, wear over-the-top nerd glasses. And
they all feel like they're both in on how the film is meant to play and
on how Rodriguez sees the whole kid POV issues.
The film runs an appropriate
and pitch perfect ninety-three minutes. It accomplishes two thing in addition
to entertaining the hardened film viewer: It kept my daughter riveted without
a moment for distraction and it made her "feel cool" (her words). Easily
Rodriguez's best work to date (and a sequel is in the works), SPY Kids
quenches the cinematic sweet tooth as a highbrow, kid oriented film that
actually considers youth both in its voice and its target audience.
home
2001