Spy Kids (2001)
Directed by Robert Rodriguez
Carmen and Juni think their parents are boring. Little do they know that in their day, Gregorio and Ingrid Cortez were the top secret agents from their respective countries. They gave up that life to raise their children. Now, the disappearances of several of their old colleagues forces the Cortez' return from retirement. What they didn't count on was Carmen and Juni joining the "family business."
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28 films that influenced Spy Kids
What critics say influenced Spy Kids
Rodriguez isn’t the first director of tough content to have a successful go at more wholesome fare: A couple of years ago surrealist David Lynch (Blue Velvet) made the gently uplifting The Straight Story (rated G), and cinematic con man David Mamet (House of Games) made the sweet The Winslow Boy (also rated G).
Rodriguez isn’t the first director of tough content to have a successful go at more wholesome fare: A couple of years ago surrealist David Lynch (Blue Velvet) made the gently uplifting The Straight Story (rated G), and cinematic con man David Mamet (House of Games) made the sweet The Winslow Boy (also rated G).
Still, equating "normal" (at least for a Disney family) and "Hispanic" is quite new for mainstream film, and it is an overdue change from the likes of Hayley Mills or the fair, freckled kids from Escape To Witch Mountain (1975), (Ike Eisenmann and Disney regular Kim Richards).
Rodriguez isn’t the first director of tough content to have a successful go at more wholesome fare: A couple of years ago surrealist David Lynch (Blue Velvet) made the gently uplifting The Straight Story (rated G), and cinematic con man David Mamet (House of Games) made the sweet The Winslow Boy (also rated G).
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I wanted to make a movie that had the kind of imaginative elements of all those movies I loved growing up such as Willy Wonka and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang --- which was written by Ian Fleming by the way, " explains Rodriguez.
Rodriguez isn’t the first director of tough content to have a successful go at more wholesome fare: A couple of years ago surrealist David Lynch (Blue Velvet) made the gently uplifting The Straight Story (rated G), and cinematic con man David Mamet (House of Games) made the sweet The Winslow Boy (also rated G).
In many ways, this film resembles 1971's Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, not only because it features a quirky recluse locked in a fantastic palace full of surprises, but because of its wildly colorful visual design which recollects the trippy, psychedelic styles of Peter Max or Yellow Submarine.
In many ways, this film resembles 1971's Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, not only because it features a quirky recluse locked in a fantastic palace full of surprises, but because of its wildly colorful visual design which recollects the trippy, psychedelic styles of Peter Max or Yellow Submarine.
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This movie is really in the same spirit those shorts, including the award-winning Bedhead.
A lot of people were shocked when Robert Rodriguez announced he was doing a film for children, but not I. No, I thought back to my El Mariachi/Desperado DVD and remembered that there was a short film on there called Bedhead.
When Fegan's evil henchmen, including two played by Teri Hatcher (1996's "2 Days in the Valley") and Robert Patrick ("The Faculty"), come looking for the Cortez offsprings, it is up to Juni and Carmen to go on the run, all the while setting off to rescue their parents.