Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

Good concept, poorly executed.

There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

If you liked the first spy kids film, then you will most likely enjoy this one. It maintains the humour and the adventure from the first film and adds in new characters.

It must be tough having to live up to the legacy laid down by your parents in precisely the same field, that field being international espionage and cloak and dagger mystery hybridised with post-modernism, whilst desperately trying to combat raging hormonal surges from within as the question as to whether those of the opposite sex with whom you work are the most annoying people you've ever met or the most attractive. Robert Rodriguez's first sequel to his popular 2001 escapade Spy Kids sees those titular tots return, and this time they're not only older, whilst arriving with all the bother that comes with that, but they're facing stiff competition from within their own ranks on top of the pressures of having to save the entire world. Has being a secret agent ever been as hard as this? In Spy Kids, those leads were Alexa Vega's Carmen Cortez and Daryl Sabara's Juni; this time, however, they are sharing the titular billing with two newbies: another brother/sister pairing with which the masculine half of the duo, Matt O'Leary's Gary Giggles, is the eldest of the two and his sister Gerti, played by Emily Osment, is the little one in a partnership of binary opposition to that of our leads. Those pesky Giggles appear out to upstage the leads at any given opportunity - when a little girl's plunge to a bloody death is both at stake and perilously close to being a shocking reality during the opening rescue, all of it playing like a condensed episode of Thunderbirds into a six minute window, one really ought not argue with one's co-workers about which of them should take down the girl and which what she had on her person.Life for the Cortez's is good at first, Juni and Carmen are decent at what they do; maintain the respect of their peers whereas father Gregorio (Banderas) is on the cusp of a big promotion. In amidst all of this, it's revealed Juni and Gregorio are loosing touch; you see, Juni has a little insect machine who's able to finish off tying his bow tie now rendering poor dad's presence and ability in this department obsolete. Aside from it being an interesting example of the notion of machinery or technology infiltrating the modern working family unit and pushing kids away from their folks, we wonder if Rodriguez will take the film down a route that'll see them come to understand one another's presence a little more as they undergo hardships before suffering epiphanies post-adventure – we are not at all surprised when he does exactly that.This adventure kicks off when something called the Transmooker Device, merely a kooky way of stating what it is a chaff accessory capable of electromagnetic pulses, is swiped from under everyone's noses at a Spy Kids gala – the taking of which is outlined as something resembling a disaster if it fell into the wrong hands. Incredibly, Juni is blamed and is kicked off of the Spy Kids programme, whereas their rivals the Giggles' are hired to effectively clean up Juni's mess and retrieve it - everything is rather glum as a result. Carmen, through her hacking expertise as is established, then manages to get them onto the mission as well, something which brings about not only a trip to a Harryhausen-inspired island full of creatures and wonder, but a redemptive quest for Juni for something he didn't really do.For the most part, it is just a bunch of kids merely running around on an island populated by creatures whose reason for being there becomes clearer much later on. Events are peppered with the potential romance between Gary and Carmen; Gary's belief that the key to her heart is through insulting her brother prominent, something that appears to actually rather turn her on - she does, after all, enjoy a good session of victimisation on poor old Juni. She later admits her feelings to Juni, speaking of her desires to draw Gary out of his flash, egotistical demeanour and into something else - what? we cannot be sure: a quieter, softer type perhaps. There's a line from Gary early on about how a "spy is only as good as their gadgets", which we hope Rodriguez will address, and he does, to a degree, when the Cortez's gadgetry breaks down upon entry to the island and therefore must use old fashioned logic and so-forth to win through, transcending a message through to little-uns about how you don't necessarily have to rely on electronics and gizmo's for whatever you rely on them for. It is, however, something that gets a little muddled when such a line is used as an encore by a Cortez during a later denouement.Against most odds, the best thing about the film is Steve Buscemi's character, who has all the best lines, including a great theological one about Gods and their bond with what creatures they create. He is always interesting when on screen, and whose arc about coming to terms with what it is he ill-advisedly creates after attempting to champion his own achievements, is more interesting than most other things happening. Minion, the enemy from the first pops up and we wonder why he's even there; the Spy Kids foiled him in the first, and now he's a go-to guy for advice over a cell phone. Alan Cumming's curiously named Fegan Floop, Minion's employer, is also back and is still shooting promos in front of green screen technology in what is a humorous jab at precisely what it is Rodriguez et al are doing with this very franchise; but very little of it amounts to much. The film isn't necessarily terrible and is probably better than the first, whose wacky creativity went too far and whose narrative became too droll, but you could do a lot better in terms of Rodriguez's oeuvre.

This is a scandalously bad film. None of the child actors should ever be allowed to act again, and neither should they be allowed to pass on their genetic material. On a serious note, the acting is appalling, the script is trash, the plot is horrible. This film will make you cringe with embarrassment. Some of the lines were so bad that I physically recolied from the screen. please don't watch this film, it isn't even bad in a way that makes it funny, it will just make you sad. When this film was made who was it supposed to appeal to? It's an insult to the intellignece of every child who has ever watched a film. To think that the director could ever have believed that anyone( including his own family) could like this film. I have written many better scripts than this one (although my scripts are actually quite good). Worst film ever!!

Seeing Spy Kids 2 probably wasn't a very good idea for me, having not seen Spy Kids 1; but, well, I had nothing better to do. I do, however, almost wish I hadn't seen this film - as I have enormous respect for director Robert Rodriguez, and excluding the Spy Kids films; have been impressed with almost everything that the man has turned his hand to. While this film definitely shows Rodriguez's flair (the same flair which has made the rest of his films so enjoyable), Spy Kids 2 is hard to like simply because it's just so STUPID. I realise it's a kids film and I shouldn't really be watching it - but as hard as I try to think of a reason why there would be a 'Spy Kids' organisation, I just can't come up with a plausible reason. The film is also really patronising, and it's a good job, therefore, that it's aimed at such a young audience because any other group of people would surely see through the obvious ploys to get the audience to like the film. Aside from all the gadgets that the two kids have got; there isn't a lot to this movie.Rodriguez has done the neat little trick that he did with From Dusk Till Dawn and the latter two 'Mexico' films (not to mention Sin City), in that he's gathered up a bunch of 'names' to appear in the movie. Aside from Antonio Bandaras and Carla Gugino, the film also has smaller roles for the likes of Bill Paxton, Cheech Marin, Steve Buscemi, Alan Cumming and Danny Trejo. Of course, the main acting plaudits have to go to the two child stars, Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara, who aren't brilliant; but get to have a lot of fun spying and stuff. The side of the film that really lets it down is the special effects. The CGI is so bad that after a while, I actually started to think that it's bad on purpose. There's just absolutely no way that this is the best that the effects department could do. On the whole, this film isn't really meant to be taken seriously. I imagine a lot of kids will enjoy Spy Kids 2; but I didn't like it all that much. It sure beats being bored...but I felt like I was being talked down to all the way through, and that coupled with the rubbish effects and numerous ridiculous sequences make me give the film a thumbs down.