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Spy
Kids 2
The Island of Lost Dreams
review by KJ Doughton, 9 August 2002
Sensational
Celluloid Candy Store
If
his films are anything to go on, Robert Rodriguez has cajones the
size of sombreros, and manhood resembling a large cactus. Here’s a guy who dedicated his body to a science experiment
to finance El Mariachi,
eternally tarnished George Clooney’s Saintly Doctor image by
sticking the actor into his serial killer-come-vampire-road-picture,
From Dusk ‘til Dawn,
then resurrected the
smart kids flick with Spy Kids.
Renegade Rodriguez truly lives for his art, cramming a
steel-toed boot up the gyrating backside of any genre he decides to
pillage.
Now
comes Spy Kids 2: The Island
of Lost Dreams, surfacing as Rodriguez’s best film and the
most inventive, spirited children’s movie since Toy
Story. This
sensational celluloid candy store isn’t some sleazeball
executive’s cynical vision of what kids want. Rather, it’s as if
the director had read the gray matter of every tiny tot on his
block, then threw out a red carpet of their most colorful, whimsical
hankerings.
Want
carnival rides? Spy Kids 2 kicks off at an edgy amusement park featuring a ride
called The Vomiter, which whips its riders around like the classic,
multi-armed Octopus attraction before accelerating like a blender on
puree cycle. This puke-inducer
is matched by other mach ten thrill machines that only a
twelve-year-old could conceptualize.
Want
dinosaur-like megamonsters? The
film resurrects Jurassic Park’s
misunderstood scientist, this time depicted by the always-reliable
Steve Buscemi. To see
the one-time Reservoir Dog accidentally father an island of mutated
freak-creatures including a pig with wings and a two-headed sea
snake is filmgoing bliss of Willy Wonka or Beetlejuice
caliber.
Want
fighting? There’s a
hilarious father-against-father fistfight for the fate of the
planet, with Charlie Chaplin-inspired slapstick in the Gods
Must Be Crazy mode that’s refreshingly light. There’s no
ugly violence to gum up the life-affirming charm of Spy
Kids 2.
Want
kids that actually look like kids?
There are no plastic, pristine Britney Spears-inspired
tailor’s dummies in this sincere ode to pre-teens.
Alexa Vega, the spunky brunette who plays Carmen Cortez, and
freckle-faced Daryl Sabara (playing her little brother Juni), are
both free of Hollywood gloss. Meanwhile,
we’re treated to smile-inducing support from Ricardo Montalban as
a shrewd grandfather who delights in one-upping Antonio Banderas’
humiliated spy father.
Want
homages to old movies that will entertain film fiend parents while
appearing thrilling and new to their film fiend offspring? There’s a swords ‘n skeleton attack with Ray Harryhausen
written all over it. Meanwhile,
music aficionados will chuckle when cherubic Sabara takes the stage
as guitarist Angus Van Santana, and proceeds to impersonate every
rock ‘n roll string strangler of note since the invention of
Marshall Stacks.
Spy
Kids 2 is the
best example in recent memory of what happens when an
independent-minded director is allowed to exercise his talents with
the backing and support of a Hollywood support system.
This movie doesn’t feel like a studio picture, but its
ongoing parade of inventive gadgetry and intricately choreographed
set pieces swims in the kind of expense that only a studio can
finance. 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.
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