Desertman84
Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams is a sequel to Spy Kids and a family fantasy adventure movie by Robert Rodriguez that tells more adventures of Carmen and Juni Cortez.It stars Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara as Carmen and Juni respectively together with Antonio Banderas, Carla Gugino,Ricardo Montalbán and Steve Buscemi. The second installment of Spy Kids was definitely another joyous family adventure.Despite the fact that it has a limited production money,it looked like a big production movie with its visual effects.Also,it has also become more creative and charismatic making it more entertaining as compared to the original despite the fact that it is no longer a fresh concept to the viewers.Overall,it manages not to fall into the trap of what most sequels become - a mediocre film - as it can be comparable to the first film.
johnnyboyz
It must be tough having to live up to the legacy laid down by your parents in precisely the same field, that field being international espionage and cloak and dagger mystery hybridised with post-modernism, whilst desperately trying to combat raging hormonal surges from within as the question as to whether those of the opposite sex with whom you work are the most annoying people you've ever met or the most attractive. Robert Rodriguez's first sequel to his popular 2001 escapade Spy Kids sees those titular tots return, and this time they're not only older, whilst arriving with all the bother that comes with that, but they're facing stiff competition from within their own ranks on top of the pressures of having to save the entire world. Has being a secret agent ever been as hard as this? In Spy Kids, those leads were Alexa Vega's Carmen Cortez and Daryl Sabara's Juni; this time, however, they are sharing the titular billing with two newbies: another brother/sister pairing with which the masculine half of the duo, Matt O'Leary's Gary Giggles, is the eldest of the two and his sister Gerti, played by Emily Osment, is the little one in a partnership of binary opposition to that of our leads. Those pesky Giggles appear out to upstage the leads at any given opportunity - when a little girl's plunge to a bloody death is both at stake and perilously close to being a shocking reality during the opening rescue, all of it playing like a condensed episode of Thunderbirds into a six minute window, one really ought not argue with one's co-workers about which of them should take down the girl and which what she had on her person.Life for the Cortez's is good at first, Juni and Carmen are decent at what they do; maintain the respect of their peers whereas father Gregorio (Banderas) is on the cusp of a big promotion. In amidst all of this, it's revealed Juni and Gregorio are loosing touch; you see, Juni has a little insect machine who's able to finish off tying his bow tie now rendering poor dad's presence and ability in this department obsolete. Aside from it being an interesting example of the notion of machinery or technology infiltrating the modern working family unit and pushing kids away from their folks, we wonder if Rodriguez will take the film down a route that'll see them come to understand one another's presence a little more as they undergo hardships before suffering epiphanies post-adventure – we are not at all surprised when he does exactly that.This adventure kicks off when something called the Transmooker Device, merely a kooky way of stating what it is a chaff accessory capable of electromagnetic pulses, is swiped from under everyone's noses at a Spy Kids gala – the taking of which is outlined as something resembling a disaster if it fell into the wrong hands. Incredibly, Juni is blamed and is kicked off of the Spy Kids programme, whereas their rivals the Giggles' are hired to effectively clean up Juni's mess and retrieve it - everything is rather glum as a result. Carmen, through her hacking expertise as is established, then manages to get them onto the mission as well, something which brings about not only a trip to a Harryhausen-inspired island full of creatures and wonder, but a redemptive quest for Juni for something he didn't really do.For the most part, it is just a bunch of kids merely running around on an island populated by creatures whose reason for being there becomes clearer much later on. Events are peppered with the potential romance between Gary and Carmen; Gary's belief that the key to her heart is through insulting her brother prominent, something that appears to actually rather turn her on - she does, after all, enjoy a good session of victimisation on poor old Juni. She later admits her feelings to Juni, speaking of her desires to draw Gary out of his flash, egotistical demeanour and into something else - what? we cannot be sure: a quieter, softer type perhaps. There's a line from Gary early on about how a "spy is only as good as their gadgets", which we hope Rodriguez will address, and he does, to a degree, when the Cortez's gadgetry breaks down upon entry to the island and therefore must use old fashioned logic and so-forth to win through, transcending a message through to little-uns about how you don't necessarily have to rely on electronics and gizmo's for whatever you rely on them for. It is, however, something that gets a little muddled when such a line is used as an encore by a Cortez during a later denouement.Against most odds, the best thing about the film is Steve Buscemi's character, who has all the best lines, including a great theological one about Gods and their bond with what creatures they create. He is always interesting when on screen, and whose arc about coming to terms with what it is he ill-advisedly creates after attempting to champion his own achievements, is more interesting than most other things happening. Minion, the enemy from the first pops up and we wonder why he's even there; the Spy Kids foiled him in the first, and now he's a go-to guy for advice over a cell phone. Alan Cumming's curiously named Fegan Floop, Minion's employer, is also back and is still shooting promos in front of green screen technology in what is a humorous jab at precisely what it is Rodriguez et al are doing with this very franchise; but very little of it amounts to much. The film isn't necessarily terrible and is probably better than the first, whose wacky creativity went too far and whose narrative became too droll, but you could do a lot better in terms of Rodriguez's oeuvre.
Michele
I have only just seen this movie, having borrowed the DVD from the library. The first thing I noticed when watching the movie was the excellent picture quality - it was 'filmed' in High Definition. Apart from really enjoying the plot of the movie, which I won't re-iterate here, (I haven't seen Spy Kids 1 or 3), I found the audio commentary on the DVD by Robert Rodriguez, fantastic. What a talented and imaginative man Robert Rodriguez is. RR went into a lot of detail about the making of the film but I also found that a lot of his comments are also appropriate in many other areas of ones life, and they don't only relate to the movie industry.The DVD contains a lot of extra special features and I found them most interesting. The movie was excellently cast and it was great to see Ricardo Montalban. Both he and Antonio Banderas were perfect for their roles.In summary it was a really enjoyable movie and I loved the subtle humor that occurred throughout. The DVD's special features are superb.
