WakenPayne Childhood nostalgia, that is simply the 2 words why I saw this movie again. I watched the first three movies quite a bit as a kid and I can even tell you why. Around the time I was into James Bond so when I saw this movie I saw it as the same except with kids (I was 7!). So watching this movie again did bring back some childhood memories but that's about all it did.The movie is about the 2 world's best spies who are married. They retire once their children are born. 9 years later the 2 kids - Carmen and Juni are keeping secrets from their parents - Carmen skips school and all of Juni's friends are as real as the CGI in this movie. Their parents find a mission to track missing agents and through that we find out a kids show host named Floop (Alan Cumming) has the technology to change people's appearances into crazy-as-hell looking characters for his show as well as build robot kids - the robot kids being for some guy's army. After they get captured it is up to Carmen and Juni to save their parents.Well to this movie's credit it has a lot of imagination to it. Which is a pretty good thing for the most part. I say for the most part because the CGI of some of them looks really dated. Not to say I still didn't appreciate the thought and effort but... yeah some of it just looks a little bit creepy to show younger children at least.The only other thing I can really say about it is Alan Cumming's performance as Floop. He just nails whimsical, head-in-the-clouds, crazy inventor, Children's TV Show Host perfectly. If I were to talk about the acting some more Alexa Vega does an okay job but Daryl Sabara is AWFUL! I mean I know I shouldn't be too harsh on him, because he's just a kid but here, I don't think he's even trying.If there was one thing I hated, and I mean LOATHED it would have to be the humour. It was terrible, I mean it might make some kids laugh but most of it is the bottom of the barrel toilet humour that dominates awful kids films.Here's another thing, we have too many morals. Or at least the screenwriter has no idea how to balance them out. On one hand we have importance of family and that message is delivered okay, but when Floop tells Juni that all it was about was purity of heart and mind, it almost comes out of nowhere. There maybe other morals that they tried to get across but I really just couldn't see them.So does Spy Kids hold up in my eyes? No, and why should it? All it has to offer in terms of quality really is one supporting performance and the imagination behind it. With that said this could entertain your 7-10 year old for an hour and a half and it is relatively harmless. If you're babysitting a kid sometime - check it out, or if you want to see how childhood nostalgia holds up.

jagsports01 When I saw this movie, I immediately was pulled in and obsessed. The trailers made the movie look bad, so I decided, no I shouldn't see it. Then on rotten tomatoes, I saw 93% which is a great amount. I decided to see it, and I loved it. For anyone who is uncertain about seeing this movie, go for it. It is an original, unexpected journey, that you can see repeatedly, and will not get bored. I think the best part of this movie is... the storyline, and the acting. Outstanding roles from Alexa Vega, Daryl Sabara (Carmen and Juny), and any other actor/actress in the movie. I recommend any parents to go take there kids to this movie.After all, Spy Kids is an original, first one out of the package piece of paper that sucks you in, making you stare at the drawing all day.

Steve Pulaski Spy Kids is a special kind of family film that will please adults and children alike. What a rarity. I critique family films by judging if both the parent and the child will enjoy seeing the film. The parents buy the movie or the ticket for the kids, so they should both be provided with entertainment.Director Robert Rodriguez is all about special effects. So it comes as no surprise that Spy Kids relies heavily on technology. If Rodriguez had made this in the late eighties or early nineties, it would get more of a reputation as a cheesy, low budget picture, and wouldn't be remembered today in the hearts of many adolescents. If the first film would be made in 2011, we'd get the creepy hybrid of motion capture-like animation for most of this, most likely. So it's nice to see Spy Kids was made just in the nic of time when technology could produce such a fun, original picture.The story is about two youngsters, Carmen (Vega) and Juni (Sabara), whose parents (Banderas and Gugino) are undercover spies. They don't know their parents are spies, but after staying with their "Uncle" Felix (Marin), he tells them about their parents during an emergency, and sends both of them off to rescue their parents from an evil TV show host named Fegan Floop (Cumming).Spy Kids is only limited by the imagination from Robert Rodriguez head. My favorite scene is when Carmen and Juni are speeding on what resembles a water jet-ski pod (I'm just guessing, I really don't think Rodriguez knew what he was coming up with either), and evading the ninjas by just half a second. Something about that made me think back to when I was a kid, on my bed (or my spaceship) rolling around fighting imaginary bad guys.The CGI works, but it's flawed when it comes to the thumb creatures. The thumbs look blocky, and not very life-like. Not like anything is, but this picture was flowing perfectly up until the "thumb thumbs" came in. They are just assembled awkwardly, and lack animation. I was actually hoping two would go to war with each other if you know what I mean.The two leads are fairly decent actors, not perfect, but they have some time to practice, and I think these films are good places to start. The storyline was the least of my concerns, I just wanted good-humored, little to non-violent fun, and Spy Kids works. Its charm springs from the fact that it is just a kid's film, and it doesn't worry that it is being too unrealistic. It's meant to be that way.Starring: Alex Vega, Daryl Sabara, Antonio Banderas, Carla Gugino, Cheech Marin, and Danny Trejo. Directed by: Robert Rodriguez.

Electrified_Voltage I was in my early teens when this movie came out, and I can't remember exactly how I first heard about it, but I don't think that happened until a few years later. It has now been several years since I first heard of "Spy Kids", but I was far from eager to watch it. I knew it was a kiddie spy flick, like "Agent Cody Banks", and even though it's been several years since I last saw that 2003 release, I can still remember being put off by its cheesiness. I would probably still be ignoring this 2001 kiddie spy flick if it weren't for renowned cartoonist and filmmaker Mike Judge in the cast, as small as his role here is. This movie generally isn't considered atrocious, but I knew it would be at least somewhat cheesy, so I was not surprised by its overall mediocrity.Gregorio and Ingrid Cortez were once enemy spies from different countries, sent to kill each other, but when they met, they soon ended up falling in love, getting married, and semi-retiring from the spy business. Nine years later, they are now the parents of two children, Carmen and Juni, who are both unaware of their parents' past. The two Cortez parents return to their spy jobs after several other spies go missing, and it looks like a children's TV show called "Floop's Fooglies" could be responsible! They leave Uncle Felix Gumm with the kids and set out to investigate. The two secret agents are soon captured on their mission, and when this happens, an alarm goes off in the Cortez home and the place is invaded! Uncle Felix tells Carmen and Juni the truth, which is that their parents are spies and he is not really their uncle. The two young siblings manage to escape, and set out to work as spies themselves and save their parents! As well as being an action adventure film, this is also supposed to be a comedy, but absolutely nothing made me laugh, and I guess a couple parts made me smile, but hardly even did that! The "Now flushing your poop" part is an example of juvenile kiddie humour in the movie, and it's also certainly not amusing watching the conflict between the Cortez siblings, with the name calling and such. The story didn't really grab me for the most part, either. I found the first 25 minutes of the film or so to be consistently dull (including the part showing how two enemy spies just suddenly changed their minds when they met), and later, I did find SOME adrenaline in it, thanks to the action, but not enough to distract me from the flaws. I didn't really care much for any of the characters, and Alan Cumming's performance in the role of Fegan Floop is rather weak. I could tell that this character was supposed to be one of the more comical ones, but he just provides more failed attempts at humour for the already unfunny film. The special effects in "Spy Kids" are great, but special effects aren't everything.This 2001 kiddie spy flick apparently turned out to be a success, and was followed by "Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams" in 2002 and "Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over" in 2003. After a long break, it appears the franchise is about to return with another sequel called "Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World" coming up, one by Robert Rodriguez, just like the first three. However, I doubt I'll be watching any of these, as watching the original "Spy Kids" didn't capture my interest well enough. Now, maybe a 6/10 for this movie wouldn't be too much from me, due to the reasonably suspenseful parts (it may be a bit better than "Agent Cody Banks"), but in the end, it still left me with an underwhelming feeling. There's a good chance I would have liked this movie as a kid, but many adult viewers have also clearly enjoyed it. I won't say it's strictly for kids, but you should know what you're in for, and it's unsurprisingly a little cheesy.