Grade: B+

Verdict: I spy with my little eye a big hit that's not just kid stuff.

Details: Starring Antonio Banderas, Alan Cumming and Carla Gugino. Directed by Robert Rodriguez. Rated PG for action sequences. One hour, 33 minutes.

Rate it: Write your own review

Review:   Let's make this simple: “Spy Kids” is the “Willy Wonka” of the 21st century (well, so far). About the only thing wrong with this amazing family film is the insipid title.

Who would've thought that Robert Rodriguez, best-known for “hip” flops like “Desperado” and “From Dusk Till Dawn,” would find his true calling as a kid-friendly fantasist? “Spy Kids” doesn't just conjure up comparisons with “Willy Wonka”; it's littered with bits and pieces of everything from “The Thief of Baghdad” and Pee-wee Herman to “Beetlejuice” and “The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.” Plus there are some darker references like “Village of the Damned” and “The City of Lost Children.” Finally, Rodriguez punches up the adrenaline level with “Matrix”-like special effects. (Truth be told, “Spy Kids” is probably smarter than “The Matrix.”)

The incredibly clever script explains why such super-cool talents like Antonio Banderas, Tony Shalhoub, Alan Cumming, Carla Gugino (“Spin City”), Robert Patrick, Teri Hatcher and a surprise celeb cameo signed on. Gregorio (Banderas) and Ingrid (Gugino) Cortez are world-class secret agents who've spent the last nine years in semi-retirement, raising their children, Carmen (Alexa Vega) and Juni (Daryl Sabara). The kids are clueless about their parents' glamorous past. Clueless, that is, until Gregorio and Ingrid are kidnapped by an evil kid-show host, Fegan Floop (Cumming), and his scheming assistant, Minion (Shalhoub).

The only ones with any chance of rescuing them are — ta-da! — Carmen and Juni, who are not only underprepared, but often fall into a pattern that kids and parents will recognize all too well: the know-it-all older sister and the picked-on-but-smart-mouthed little brother.

“Spy Kids” hits the screen running and never lets up. It's the kind of movie where, every time someone opens a door or pushes a button, something surprising happens. There are virtual reality rooms; an army of thuglike thumb-thingies (they look like walking mittens and provide a platform for a lot of all-thumbs puns); a wedding ring that's a secret weapon; even a fully-loaded baby submarine that's a cross between a Captain Nemo invention and the Yellow Submarine.

Speaking of which, there are dozens of over-the-kids'-heads references that will crack up adults. A play-it-backward Beatles joke. A delicious sideways slap at the media (reminded by Minion to concentrate on their “grand diabolical operation,” the show-biz-crazy Floop replies, “syndication?”). “Spy Kids” shows you what happens when you put someone in charge who knows the movie he wants to make, as opposed to the barrage of canned kiddie schlock churned out by Hollywood.

At the same time, Rodriguez never shirks his responsibility to his younger audience. The thumb-thingies are menacing but bumbling, in order to keep potential nightmares to a minimum. (I'd still say the movie may be too much for the younger than 8 set.) Plus, along with all the wham-bang action and head-spinning sets, there's a solid message. “Spy work, that's easy,” says one of the kids. “Keeping a family together, that's difficult.”

At one point, Banderas says appreciatively of the evil spies who've kidnapped him, “You gotta give 'em points for imagination.”

Give Rodriguez bonus points.

— Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution