One Column, Two Strong Recommendations

Before I get into discussing this week’s movie, let me make a shameless plug for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, a film which I reviewed some time ago in this column, but is now making its Newtown debut at the Edmond Town Hall theatre. This was one of the best films of 2000. It won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film, and nabbed three other Academy Awards as well. This is a special, epic film, check it out on the big screen one last time before it heads to video and DVD.

Meanwhile, regarding this week’s movie, I can gladly say that I also heartily recommend Spy Kids, this year’s biggest hit thus far (although The Mummy Returns is quickly gaining after a record-breaking opening) and now playing in theaters across the country. While its box office success (three weeks at number one and still currently in the top five) may come as a bit of a surprise, perhaps the greater shock is that its writer-director, Robert Rodriguez, the talent behind such gritty fare as El Mariachi, Desperado, From Dusk Till Dawn and The Faculty, could make such a brisk, spirited, joyful and flat-out fun family movie. This PG-rated flick (for intense action sequences) is plenty safe, colorful and exciting for kids and more than clever enough for adults.

Appealing youngsters Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara star as Carmen and Juni Cortez, two siblings who yawn at their loving, yet “boring” parents (Antonio Banderas and Carla Gugino). Older sister Carmen yearns for adventure, like in the bedtime stories her mom tells of two super spies who were sent to assassinate one another but instead fall in love and get married, while younger bro Juni only finds his imaginations spurred by the surreal creations on a twisted children’s show hosted by a strange TV personality, Fegan Floop (Alan Cumming). Both kids are distracted at school and distanced from each other, yet are forced to work together when their parents disappear and their “uncle” (Cheech Marin) reveals that Mom and Dad are spies. It’s up to the kids to save their parents and protect the world from the bad guys, who plan to take over the globe with an army of super-strong robots in the guise of children.  Cool!

What becomes quickly apparent as Spy Kids unfolds is that Rodriguez places as much energy into this kid’s movie as he would into any of his other films. Often, filmmakers let their sensibilities become dulled while working on a family picture because… well, it’s a children’s movie. But Rodriguez fills his flick with inventive gadgets, colorful sets, stylish visual effects, imaginative creations (take a gander at the villainous yet humorously clumsy henchmen the Thumb-Thumbs!) and energetic performances from his cast, all of whom really appear to be enjoying themselves in this grand lark of an adventure. Rodriguez even manages to make some significant statements about marriage, family, honesty and loyalty without the usual syrupy sentiment, pandering or ponderous preaching often found in family films.

Perhaps one of the best and succinct recommendations for Spy Kids came from a mother of two children who wrote, after seeing the film, “I often come away from cinema trips with the kids feeling that we haven’t really had our money’s worth, but not today!” I couldn’t have said it better.