Rating: Country: USA Release Date: August 7, 2002

It's a wonder no one came up with the concept of "Spy Kids" long ago. Take the elements of a successful spy film, like an evil doer hell bent on taking over the world, a spy who is actually a traitor, and throw in lots of cool gadgets and transportation that is given to intelligent kids to use. James Bond marketed to the younger generation. So, the unsurprising success of "Spy Kids," Director Robert Rodriguez hurried his young spies back to the production studio for this sequel before they got too old. Will new spy gadgets, along with fantastic creatures and a higher profile cast bring back the masses?

The sequel starts off with a bang, as the President's daughter Alexandra (Taylor Momsen) needs to be rescued at the "Troublemaker" theme park, where the park's owner (played by Bill Paxton) has just opened up his newest attraction: The Juggler. Call in Agents "SK1" and "SK2", Carmen and Juni Cortez (Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara) to save the day. Carmen and Juni are now members of the newly formed SpyKIDS division of the OSS, after the success of their first mision. This time, however, they have some competition in the form of Gary and Gerti Giggles (played by Matthew O'Leary and Emily Osment) as Agents "SK3" and "SK4", who are also called in to try and rescue Alexandra. Gary and Gerti are more interested in the publicity of rescuing people, while Carmen and Juni are more focused on getting the job done, and hence the rivalry is introduced.

During an OSS awards dinner, someone steals the Transmooker device, a new technology that shuts down anything electrical in it's vicinity, and Juni is blamed. After he is dismissed from the agency, Carmen hacks into the agency computer and reinstates Juni, and the two then embark on the Ukata assignment, which takes them to a mysterious island inhabited by interesting creatures created by a mad scientist (Steve Buscemi). The aforementioned evil-doer, spy gadgets, transportation, and, what has been deemed a 'tribute' to Ray Harryhausen, cross-bred creatures, are all rolled out as the mission plays out, and the kids save the world.

Overall, there seems to be two major elements which make these films work.

First, the underlying cohesiveness of the first "Spy Kids" film is the strength of the Cortez family, and the sequel is no different. Gregorio and Ingrid Cortez (Antonio Banderas and Carla Gugino) are Carmen and Juni's parents, as well as spies for the OSS themselves. They care and worry about their children, and fret over them as any normal, loving parent would. In this installment, we are introduced to Grandpa and Grandma Cortez (Ricardo Montalban and Holland Taylor), who are Ingrid's mother and father, and are also spies, albeit retired. Again, you have a strong grasp of family value, although there is some humor in the friction between Gregorio and his in-laws.

Second is the power role that the children are given, but still remain grounded. Adults are portrayed as the lesser intelligent group here, and children relish in the fact that these kids are smarter than their larger counterparts. Carmen can hack into the agency computer at will, yet still acts like a bumbling teenager when she's near Gary, whom she has a crush on. Juni can bestow relationship advice to Alexandra, who has a strained relationship with her Presidential father, but still find time to pick his nose. Being smart isn't necessarily a bad thing.

There were two major disappointments that bring this rushed sequel down a few notches from it's predecessor. The special effects seem cheap and silly, and although the film is aimed at the young crowd, these are the same kids who are being brought up on such CGI heavy films as "Jurassic Park" and "Stuart Little." The 'Harryhausen' effects are severely outdated, and although touted as a tribute, seem to be an excuse to cover up the quickness at which this film was produced.

The first film also contained insanely fun performances by Alan Cumming as Fegan Floop and Tony Shalhoub as Alexander Minion. Their characters gave a certain 'evil Willy Wonka' atmosphere to the film, and it's sorely missed. These two make an appearance in the sequel, but are not 'bad guys' anymore. Instead, we are given an uninteresting counterpart for the Spy Kids to defeat, and thus takes away one of the ingredients of the successful spy film discussed earlier.

Kids will most likely enjoy the film, and the gadgets are fun to watch, but adults won't have as much fun as they did at the first film. Given a little more time, the effects could have been spiced up, but overall it's not a bad film. Unfortunately it has the stigma of needing to live up to the first film's quality, and it falls well short.

When "Spy Kids" opened in March of 2001 and went on to bring in a surprising $112 Million in domestic box office, "Spy Kids 2" was already in the works. With the James Bond franchise now on it's twentieth installment, the scaled-down, pint size spies of Spy Kids could have many more adventures still to come. Children, however, eventually grow up, so the Spy Kids may change over time, but then, so did the actors who played Agent 007. Time, and box office receipts, will tell if the kids will want more.

Overall Rating: C+