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Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams
Dimension Films

Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 66 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
6.9 out of 10
based on 29 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 17 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG for action sequences and brief rude humor

Starring Antonio Banderas, Carla Gugino, Alexa Vega, Daryl Sabara, Dale Dudley, Steve Buscemi, and Ricardo Montalban

When last we saw them, the Cortez kids had just joined the family business in order to win back their kidnapped parents. Now, Carmen and Juni are Level 2 OSS agents, about to set off on their own solo mission, or so they think. (Dimension Films)


GENRE(S): Family/Kids  
WRITTEN BY: Robert Rodriguez  
DIRECTED BY: Robert Rodriguez  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: February 18, 2003 
Video: February 18, 2003 
Theatrical: August 7, 2002 
RUNNING TIME: 100 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Kevin Courrier
Blissfully entertaining sequel to last year's Spy Kids, Rodriguez is once again just as good -- if not better -- than the gadgets at hand.
Read Full Review
88
Boston Globe Wesley Morris
Like a whacked pinata, it spills over with treasures - and one of the best things to fall out is Steve Buscemi, doing a riotously meek variation on the mad-scientist-with-cracked-lenses-and-lab-coat bit.
Read Full Review
80
Film Threat K.J. Doughton
Rodriguez knows kids. No doubt kids will be clamoring to get acquainted with Spy Kids 2, the best sequel to emerge from a children’s franchise in the past several years.
Read Full Review
80
Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
Rodriguez is that rare filmmaker who doesn't draw a hard, fixed line between entertaining kids and grown-ups -- he knows that in order to understand what will delight kids, you have to know what will tickle adults as well.
Read Full Review
80
The New York Times Dana Stevens
The movie is a gaudy, noisy thrill ride -- hyperactive, slightly out of control and full of kinetic, mischievous charm.
Read Full Review
80
Washington Post Ann Hornaday
The Cortez family flies into action with the same testy family dynamics, silly humor and cool gadgetry that animated the first Spy Kids.
Read Full Review
80
Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
Though it's longer and more elaborate than it needs to be, it shares its predecessor's smart but relaxed sense of humor, a sophisticated imagination and the ability to be sharp and playful without being malicious.
Read Full Review
80
The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
The rare sequel that magnifies the scope of the original without diminishing the fun.
Read Full Review
78
Austin Chronicle Marrit Ingman
This is joyful filmmaking, imbued with an infectious, giddy enthusiasm.
Read Full Review
75
New York Daily News Jami Bernard
It's a wonderfully silly family movie that holds its audience in high regard.
Read Full Review
75
New York Post Lou Lumenick
Has enough heart and smarts to recommend it as one of the season's worthier family entertainments.
Read Full Review
75
ReelViews James Berardinelli
Has once again caught lightning in a bottle and unleashed it on audiences, blending humor, adventure, and a lot of nifty special effects-enabled gadgets and creatures into a movie that provides 1 1/2 hours of unfettered entertainment for children, grandparents, and everyone in between.
Read Full Review
75
Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
The inventiveness is still superior and the network of fiends and family is extended.
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75
Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
A children's movie done with genuinely youthful spirit and an easy self-kidding mastery of its own high-tech gadgetry.
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75
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The whole film has a lively Mexican-American tilt, from the Hispanic backgrounds of the young actors to the surprise appearance of none other than Ricardo Montalban, as Grandpa, in a wheelchair with helicopter capabilities.
Read Full Review
75
USA Today Claudia Puig
Though slightly lacking in the warmth of the first, should no doubt please audiences.
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70
Variety Robert Koehler
The moments of inspired originality are all too infrequent. There's enough eye candy and marvels on screen, however.
Read Full Review
70
Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
The action is so relentless that after a while things start to feel hollow, but Rodriguez still seems to believe the moral articulated at the end of the first film -- that keeping a family together is the real adventure.
Read Full Review
67
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
Rodriguez has the chops of a smart-aleck film school brat and the imagination of a big kid, and they come together to remake the world in the image of its young audience. It's more amusement park ride than adventure, which in this case is exactly the demographic he's reaching for.
Read Full Review
63
Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
What's lacking is the simplicity that made the original.
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60
Village Voice Jessica Winter
The poised Vega and pleasingly phlegmatic Sabara are resolutely uncute performers, and the reach-out-and-touch-it gadgetry carries a homey scent of proactive nostalgia. Spy Kids 2 is an island of lost Circuit Cities.
Read Full Review
50
Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
In Spy Kids 2, Rodriguez tries to hold his family-spy saga together with the digital equal of rubber bands and chewing gum.
50
Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
To the delight of gadgetheads and the dismay of the rest of us, Spy Kids' paraphernalia is better developed and considerably more fun than its story.
Read Full Review
50
San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
Eye-catching and entertaining but less inspired than the original.
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50
TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
There's way too much CGI gadgetry, some inventive, much simply flashy in the worst kind of video-game way. The kids are nearly lost in the glitz.
Read Full Review
42
Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
The plot is tired, the energy sputtering, the jokes less manic. "Spy Kids" was a shot out of nowhere; Spy Kids 2 feels like a shot from someplace tiresomely familiar.
40
New Times (L.A.) Robert Wilonsky
It's far more than merely disappointing that Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams lacks the charm and wit -- and humanity --of its predecessor. It's dispiriting.
40
LA Weekly Ernest Hardy
This time around, writer-director Robert Rodriguez has stumbled badly, creating a clunky, gadget-happy film full of characters -- even returning ones -- about whom it is hard to care.
Read Full Review
30
Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
One overly busy (not to mention shopworn) story, which regurgitates everything from H.G. Wells's "The Island of Dr. Moreau" to the herky-jerky monsters of Ray Harryhausen to James Bond to "The Mummy."
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 6.9 (out of 10) based on 17 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

[Anonymous] gave it a7:
More kid fluff, but the people sure know how to do effects.

H S gave it a10:
Best moive ever!!!!

Chris W. gave it a 10:
Sam b lost his mind.i liked the movie.alexa is pretty in sk2.

DAVID Y. gave it a 10:
I thought the stunts they did were awesome.

Jessica S. gave it a 10:
This is a cool movie very very cool.

Sam B. gave it a 3:
This movie sucks.end of story.

B. S. gave it a 0:
This is what happens when writers get a good idea but runoutof bear and write something pothic while sobber.

Read more user comments...

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