SummaryThe children of the world's greatest secret agents unwittingly help a powerful game developer unleash a computer virus that gives him control of all technology, leading them to become spies themselves to save their parents and the world.
SummaryThe children of the world's greatest secret agents unwittingly help a powerful game developer unleash a computer virus that gives him control of all technology, leading them to become spies themselves to save their parents and the world.
Come for the fun gadgets and the kids saving the world, and stay for a message about recovery and kindness, delivered so earnestly that it isn’t saccharine at all.
So long as you aren’t expecting a masterpiece, Spy Kids: Armageddon proves itself as a fun, spy romp, where kids are king and parents are simply along for the ride. It’s childhood wish-fulfillment to the extreme, straight down to getting to live out video game fantasies and one-hit wonders.
O filme é nfantil e bobinho, no geral, com aquelas cenas típicas de um misce-en-scene engessado, farsesco. Mas algo muito positivo do filme, além do carisma da dupla mirim, é o modo como inserem a temática do videogame e da inteligência artificial na trama, muito divertida, e como isso, no final, vai ser usado a favor do filme, eles próprios tornando-se personagens, ficou visualmente incrível (mesmo com suas limitações técnicas).
Claro que ninguém pediu mais um filme dos pequenos espiões. Então, levando em conta que o filme não tem qualquer pretensão revolucionária ou um objetivo maior que não seja o puro entretenimento, funciona dentro de sua proposta, e ainda consegue dialogar com as crianças sobre o uso da ética e das escolhas.
Claro que há uma infinidade de concessões, e personagens adultos que beiram a estupidez, mas é um filme que não se pode exigir demais, sob pena de ter toda a experiência seriamente comprometida. Diante disso, até que diverte, na medida do possível, com uma ação quase inofensiva mas que pode agradar os pequenos.
Robert Rodrigues também lançou esse ano o pavoroso Hypnotic, o que mostra suas claras limitações em desenvolver um conteúdo adulto e mais empolgante. Se eu fosse ele, continuaria no terreno infantil mesmo, embora também não fizéssemos questão de mais continuidade disso.
The original films left kids with a sense of wonder, and while it does not entirely stack up to the original trilogy, this will still leave plenty of kids dreaming of slick gadgets and cool spy chases.
The lessons are sweet, the kid actors are cute, and the kid audience will probably enjoy it accordingly. Whether it sticks in their memory for 20 years or even a few months, though, is another question entirely.
There’s novelty in their “find another way” around violence conflict resolution messsaging, the effects are excellent, if not quite at a Marvel level at the moment and it finishes well. But bland leads, a story that feels similar to many other “Spy Kids” adventures and the paucity of colorful supporting players kind of washes the Spanish/Spanglish fun right out of this most Tex-Mex of kids’ franchises.
IN A NUTSHELL:
The family-friendly flick was directed by Robert Rodriguez, who also wrote the script with his son, Racer Rodriguez. I love that he involves his family members in the movie-making business. He has said that this is his family making a movie for other families. That’s fairly unique in the film industry. His son, Rebel, has a composer credit in the film, and his daughter, Rhiannon, performs the song called “Armageddon” which you can hear during the rolling credits.
In case you’re wondering, he’s not related to Gina Rodriguez, who stars in the movie…at least not what I could find on the Internet.
THINGS I LIKED:
The film definitely has a strong Latino influence, which pairs nicely with the newest teen superhero to hit the market: Blue Beetle. Almost everyone in the film is Hispanic.
I adore both Gina Rodriguez and Zachary Levi, so I was really excited to see them in this together. They both look fantastic! Individually, they did a great job, but I was surprised by their lack of chemistry together. Still a fan of both of them though.
The young stars provide the cuteness factor you’re hoping for: Connor Esterson and Everly Carganilla. The director named the children after his sister and himself, since they had so much fun playing pretend spies when they were kids.
Fun fact: Everly Carganilla actually played a young Gina Rodriguez in her popular TV show Jane the Virgin when she was only 9 months old! That was such a cute show, by the way.
The villain is played by Billy Magnussen.
The “Spy Suit Generator” scene was totally adorable and made me laugh out loud.
Another cute scene is when the kids try to sneak down the hall at night while their parents are sleeping, but they’re not successful because there are so many creaks on the wood floor. The director revealed that he got the idea for the scene from his similar experience while growing up. Me too, Robert!
I laughed when I heard the name of the video game that could possibly take over the world: Hyskor. We’re told the precursor to that game was “Lowskor.” ha ha The director’s kids had actually started creating a video game named Hyskor, which is what gave their dad the idea to include it in the movie.
There are quite a few Easter eggs in this movie. For example, we see the children eating “Great White Bites”, a cereal featured in the Sharkboy and Lavagirl movie.
Kids will love all of the cool gadgets and spy tools.
The film really does have all of the things kids like: cool spy stuff, action, comedy, villains who aren’t too scary, and showcasing kids who are smarter than any of the adults.
Ultimately, the movie is both adorable and ridiculous.
THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:
There is SO much exposition, meaning that the characters have to tell you everything they’re doing and why. It talks down to its audience. In addition, the dialogue is not very inspired. It sounded like it was written by ChatGPT.
It’s definitely not as good as the first films in the trilogy.
The CGI is surprisingly terrible. Because of SO many green screen moments, the acting is often wooden. What a disappointment.
Some fans of the franchise might not like the fact that the original young actors from the first Spy Kids aren’t in this reboot. The director explained that he wanted to create an entirely new family but that he is playing around with the idea of bringing them back in to connect those stories to the new ones.
TIPS FOR PARENTS:
No profanity.
Lots of destruction.
Some characters are in dangerous situations.
We see some skeletons, but they turn out to be robots that are nearly as scary-looking.
There is a LOT of talk about playing fair and being honest. That’s something every parent can be glad to hear!
Heads up: your kids might ask you what Armageddon means…
How do I put this lightly?, this is just Spy Kids 1, 2 and 3 all mashed up into one movie. You'd think, "Oh I'd watch that", me too.
But sadly due to the acting, due to the available film technology, and what we had in the past, this movie is just tolerable, for Kids, yes this will feel like it's the best thing since sliced bread. To me though it's just a cheap knockoff of what were already had.
You see, the previous films had prowess and a hint of fun to them even though 3 wasn't the best. This just repeats all of that but makes it worse, where is the mystery? This film acts as if we know who these characters are and what everything is. It eludes to the plot in the worst possible way.
There are no layers to this film that make it interesting, everything is just there and you instantly know what is going to happen because the plot shows you, what is going to happen, and why it's happening, hell the film tells you what is happening on screen at that very moment.
e.g. get ambushed, after getting ambushed and the entire scene has been concluded, the character says it's a trap.
Yeah, I know because I just saw what happened.
Now the fact that this is Directed by Robert Rodriguez himself makes me sad, has he not evolved his cinematic skills by now?
Great now I have to watch all the previous films again and see If I'm crazy or not.
If the old films feel the same way that this film seems I'll adjust the score but for now I'm being generous, it's a 5/10.
La verdad para mí fue una decepción y no me puedo quejar de los efectos.
Lo que no me gustó es que no mantiene la chispa de spy kids aunque hay escenas que tienen referencias a los personajes originales como en la escena de los nombres largos en mi opinión no tiene el toque por ejemplo las cámaras rapidas en los momentos clave.
En fin no me gustó mucho
Two decades have passed since the release of the last installment in the original trilogy, and a dozen years have gone by since the last film in the franchise, and now, Robert Rodriguez has returned with a pedestrian new addition that will certainly work on kids, but even they are likely to recognize this concept is beginning to feel rather outdated.
Despite the significant technological progress made since then, Spy Kids appears to be a franchise frozen in time. At the same time, it seems superfluous to today's more cynical kids, who have matured at an accelerated pace in the last five years compared to the children of the previous decade.
It may finally be time to end this franchise for good.
Production Company
Double R Productions (II),
Netflix Studios,
Pipeline Studios,
Quick Draw Productions,
Skydance Media,
Skydance Productions,
Spyglass Entertainment,
Spyglass Media Group