Now Playing
Critics & Publications
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search

Upcoming Release Calendar
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

sort by name

sort by score

38 12 Rounds
48 17 Again
76 Adventureland
48 Angels & Demons
54 Battle for Terra
xx Bruno
80 Coraline
40 Dance Flick
83 Drag Me to Hell
72 Earth
45 Fast & Furious
61 Fighting
34 Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
72 Gran Torino
73 Hangover, The
47 Hannah Montana: The Movie
51 Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
54 Imagine That
41 Knowing
32 Land of the Lost
56 Monsters vs. Aliens
34 My Life in Ruins
51 My Sister's Keeper
46 Next Day Air
42 Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
54 Observe and Report
25 Obsessed
48 Proposal, The
70 Public Enemies
61 Soloist, The
83 Star Trek
64 State of Play
55 Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, The
52 Terminator Salvation
35 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
77 Under the Sea 3D
88 Up
43 X-Men Origins: Wolverine
34 Year One

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

sort by name

sort by score

67 $9.99
75 24 City
66 Adoration
74 Afghan Star
48 Alien Trespass
56 American Violet
82 Anvil! The Story of Anvil
57 Away We Go
81 Beaches of Agnes, The
62 Big Man Japan
28 Big Shot-Caller, The
78 Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
55 Brothers Bloom, The
82 Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
xx Call of the Wild
63 Cheri
62 Cherry Blossoms
63 Dead Snow
65 Departures
18 Downloading Nancy
58 Easy Virtue
70 End of the Line, The
77 Every Little Step
64 Examined Life
80 Food, Inc.
38 Gigantic
56 Girl from Monaco, The
67 Girlfriend Experience, The
87 Gomorrah
89 Goodbye Solo
63 Great Buck Howard, The
79 Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
xx Home
82 Hunger
91 Hurt Locker, The
16 I Hate Valentine's Day
81 Il Divo
54 Is Anybody There?
71 Jerichow
58 Julia
74 Lemon Tree
36 Life is Hot in Cracktown
40 Limits of Control, The
42 Little Ashes
64 Lymelife
50 Management
57 Merry Gentleman, The
66 Moon
35 New York
62 Not Forgotten
xx Offshore
78 O'Horten
64 Outrage
40 Paris 36
54 Pontypool
71 Pressure Cooker
52 Quiet Chaos
83 Revanche
67 Rudo y Cursi
86 Seraphine
65 Sex Positive
70 Shall We Kiss?
77 Sin Nombre
59 Sleep Dealer
74 Song of Sparrows, The
54 Stoning of Soraya M., The
82 Sugar
84 Summer Hours
61 Sunshine Cleaning
28 Surveillance
42 Tennessee
63 Tetro
64 Throw Down Your Heart
80 Tokyo Sonata
63 Tokyo!
70 Tony Manero
74 Treeless Mountain
88 Tulpan
74 Two Lovers
83 Tyson
83 U2 3D
60 Under Our Skin
69 Unmistaken Child
69 Valentino: The Last Emperor
22 What Goes Up
45 Whatever Works
57 Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams
Dimension Films

Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams reviews


7.6

based on 29 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 22 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

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

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...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

The rare sequel that magnifies the scope of the original without diminishing the fun.

Austin Chronicle Marrit Ingman

This is joyful filmmaking, imbued with an infectious, giddy enthusiasm.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

It's a wonderfully silly family movie that holds its audience in high regard.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Has enough heart and smarts to recommend it as one of the season's worthier family entertainments.

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.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

The inventiveness is still superior and the network of fiends and family is extended.

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.

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.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Though slightly lacking in the warmth of the first, should no doubt please audiences.

Variety Robert Koehler

The moments of inspired originality are all too infrequent. There's enough eye candy and marvels on screen, however.

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.

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.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

What's lacking is the simplicity that made the original.

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.

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.

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.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Eye-catching and entertaining but less inspired than the original.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

The average user rating for this movie is 7.6 (out of 10) based on 22 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.

Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams Dimension Films

Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams
Dimension Films