Director: Robert Rodriguez
Starring: Antonio Banderas, Carla Gugino, Alexa Vega, Daryl Sabara, Alan Cumming, Tony Shaloub, Robert Patrick, Teri Hatcher, Cheech Marin, Danny Trejo

- Reviewed by Linda

You know, I might understand that you all think I'm praising this film just because the studio gave me some free copies of the DVD to review and give away. But that's not true! Spy Kids is an unexpectedly delightful and thrilling kids flick for people of all ages to enjoy... and really, how often can you say that? 

This is just the type of movie that I would have dug as a kid: It has groovy technology, strong female leads (and male leads... everyone kicks ass equally), comedy, action, a three-dimensional villain (Alan Cumming!), and, well, it's about spies. What kid doesn't love spies? (I know that personally I was obsessed with the book "Harriet the Spy," and emulated her mystery-solving skills.)

The Cortez family is just your regular family. The kids are smart, with big sister Carmen (Alexa Vega) constantly picking on her little brother Juni (Daryl Sabara). They think their parents (Antonio Banderas and Carla Gugino) are particularly boring and regular, not knowing (of course) that they are actually retired spies. 

One day, the elder Cortezes are called back for one last mission, to relive their pre-family glory-days, if you will, and end up getting kidnapped by the evil Floop (Cumming), a sadistic host of a children's television show (!). Of course, it is up to Carmen and Juni to save their parents, using all the knowledge that their parents have raised them with, which leads them to all sorts of action and adventure.

Now, Spy Kids could have easily been really cheesy. Kid-actors are a risky bunch, as they, more often than not, come across as cutesy and obnoxious (MacCauley Culkin, anyone?). Except for Alexa Vega coming close-to-the-edge-of-annoying a few times, the kids look like they are having a lot of fun. Luckily they are never forced to utter groan-worthy or eyeball-rolling lines. 

But, get this, the adults are having fun, too. The script is very witty, and at times laugh-out-loud funny (remember, I'm speaking as an adult viewer here). The visual effects are both outlandish and believable, and the action sequences never wear out their welcome. Clocking in at a mere 88 minutes, Spy Kids also knows when to wrap it up for the short-attention-span of our younger viewers.

Spy Kids is easily one of the best kids' films I've seen in the past few years. It's fun enough to be considered a crowd-pleasing action/adventure film, but also slightly twisted enough to be shelved alongside Willy Wonka and The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.

To tell you the truth, other than the basic chapter searches, widescreen capability, French/Spanish language capability, and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, the DVD doesn't offer any neat extras, other than some gratuitous ads for the Spy Kids website, as well as previews for unrelated upcoming films.

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