I love the Spy Kids movies - even Spy Kids 3, despite its flaws.
When they announced that Spy Kids 4 was on the way, I had mixed feelings. Yeah, it was cool to see another Spy Kids movie on the way and as the cast was locked into place, seeing Alexa Vega and Darryl Sabarra coming back was a total blast. Then it started to get a bit worrying with news of the gimmick of smell-o-vision being used to try and sell this one.
The end result? A big mess. On the plus side, the effects and the 3D in this are better than they have been in previous outings. There is some fun to be had seeing Juny and Carmen come back as grown up Spy Kids and there are some nice little links to the original trilogy. The new Spy Kids are kinda fun but not as cool or engaging as the original two and Jessica Alba is pretty game to put up with some of the crap she's put through here. And some giggles can be had from Ricky Gervais' spy dog and Jeremy Piven's multiple appearances.
That said, the smell-o-vision thing is just plain distracting (granted, it's not overdone and is largely confined to the starting 20 minutes) with the large numbers flashing on screen and beeping to make sure you actually do scratch and sniff. The comedy is far too heavy handed and relies more on poop and fart jokes than in previous outings and is aimed strictly at the lowest common denominator - talk about dumbing down! And the message is hammered home with all the finesse and subtlety of sledgehammer to the crotch. There are numerous times where the whole "spend time with your kids/parents" is said direct to camera and after about the third or fourth time, it gets preachy.
It's a shame that Robert Rodriguez felt the need to restart the series with such a lame and heavy handed mess, given just how much fun the first three had to offer. And, on a personal note, I was gutted to see that Uncle Machete was relegated to a blink and you miss him cameo after being built up so well. Aah well, I'm guessing there are plans for another couple movies so there's a chance that it can redeem itself but I think that after this, it's gonna have to work hard!
When they announced that Spy Kids 4 was on the way, I had mixed feelings. Yeah, it was cool to see another Spy Kids movie on the way and as the cast was locked into place, seeing Alexa Vega and Darryl Sabarra coming back was a total blast. Then it started to get a bit worrying with news of the gimmick of smell-o-vision being used to try and sell this one.
The end result? A big mess. On the plus side, the effects and the 3D in this are better than they have been in previous outings. There is some fun to be had seeing Juny and Carmen come back as grown up Spy Kids and there are some nice little links to the original trilogy. The new Spy Kids are kinda fun but not as cool or engaging as the original two and Jessica Alba is pretty game to put up with some of the crap she's put through here. And some giggles can be had from Ricky Gervais' spy dog and Jeremy Piven's multiple appearances.
That said, the smell-o-vision thing is just plain distracting (granted, it's not overdone and is largely confined to the starting 20 minutes) with the large numbers flashing on screen and beeping to make sure you actually do scratch and sniff. The comedy is far too heavy handed and relies more on poop and fart jokes than in previous outings and is aimed strictly at the lowest common denominator - talk about dumbing down! And the message is hammered home with all the finesse and subtlety of sledgehammer to the crotch. There are numerous times where the whole "spend time with your kids/parents" is said direct to camera and after about the third or fourth time, it gets preachy.
It's a shame that Robert Rodriguez felt the need to restart the series with such a lame and heavy handed mess, given just how much fun the first three had to offer. And, on a personal note, I was gutted to see that Uncle Machete was relegated to a blink and you miss him cameo after being built up so well. Aah well, I'm guessing there are plans for another couple movies so there's a chance that it can redeem itself but I think that after this, it's gonna have to work hard!