Review of Spy Kids

Spy Kids is to little kids what James Bond is to hormone-filled young adults and what Jason Bourne is to serious one-minded teenagers. In compared to other directors, Robert Rodriguez falls a little short; stand-alone, and he takes the center stage. Rodriquez has always been influential, being at his peak in El Mariachi and Sin City. This film is just like the director; if compared to his other films, say Sin City, it doesn't amount to much, but as a stand-alone film, it is arguably one of the best children / family films ever. It has a goofy, quite-contrived, quite-implausible plot, crazy, colourful characters and promising new talents that has, sadly, gone to waste now.

Daryl Sabara and Alexa Vega were two of the most promising talents ever to grace the silver-screen. They play Juni Cortez and Carmen Cortez, respectively, and shared an almost impeccable chemistry. Performance-wise, both were great, likable, relatable, dedicated, and downright simple in their characters. No exaggeration, no nothing. Although there could be better candidates, I think we should just declare Carmen and Juni as the Tom & Jerry of the movie-sibling-world. Antonio Banderas is always a welcome in most cases and over here he is no exception. He managed to bring a certain serio-comic edge to his character that I last noted displayed by Robert Donat in The 39 Steps. Carla Gugino has always been one of my favourites, although mostly looks-wise than performance-wise, but she was good all the same. Tony Shalhoub was equally impressive, quite chameleon like, a surprising achievement seeing as he was sharing screen-time with Alan Cumming, a master of disguise himself. I personally believe that Alan should play Willy Wonka, with Tony at his side, because I enjoyed their duo. Robert Patrick and Danny Trejo, although different in their respective careers and status, belong in the "pack" of seriously cool actors who are damn underrated. Great performances or not, these actors are a welcome onscreen presence and they put the entertainment in entertainment.

In conclusion, Spy Kids is definitely going in my greatest movies list, a rather strange inclusion yes, but I like this flick that much. Give it a try, and try to avoid the sequels as much as you can, especially 3 and 4.

7.5/10