Plot
Carmen's caught in a virtual reality game designed by the Kids' new nemesis, the Toymaker (Stallone). It's up to Juni to save his sister, and ultimately the world.

Release Year: 2003

Rating: 4.0/10 (17,998 voted)

Critic's Score: 57/100

Director: Robert Rodriguez

Stars: Daryl Sabara, Alexa Vega, Antonio Banderas

Storyline
Under-age agents Juni and Carmen Cortez set out on their newest most mind-blowing mission yet: journeying inside the virtual reality world of a 3-D video game designed to outsmart them, as the awe-inspiring graphics and creatures of gaming come to real life. Relying on humor, gadgetry, bravery, family bonds and lightning-quick reflexes, the Spy Kids must battle through tougher and tougher levels of the game, facing challenges that include racing against road warriors and surfing on boiling lava, in order to save the world from a power hungry villain.

Cast:
Antonio Banderas - Gregorio Cortez
Carla Gugino - Ingrid Cortez
Alexa Vega - Carmen Cortez
Daryl Sabara - Juni Cortez
Ricardo Montalban - Grandfather
Holland Taylor - Grandmother
Sylvester Stallone - Toymaker
Mike Judge - Donnagon Giggles
Salma Hayek - Cesca Giggles
Matt O'Leary - Gary Giggles
Emily Osment - Gerti Giggles
Ryan Pinkston - Arnold (as Ryan James Pinkston)
Robert Vito - Rez
Bobby Edner - Francis
Courtney Jines - Demetra

Taglines: Coming At You July 25th

Release Date: 25 July 2003

Filming Locations: Congress Avenue, Austin, Texas, USA

Box Office Details

Budget: $39,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend: $33,417,739 (USA) (27 July 2003) (3344 Screens)

Gross: $111,760,631 (USA) (1 February 2004)

Runtime: 84 min

Trivia:
George Clooney's scenes were shot in one afternoon in his own living room, in a suit jacket, shirt, tie and pajama pants.

Goofs:
Continuity: When Gerty and Juni are talking in the tree house, Gerty is drinking a cup of apple juice. When she is done, she wipes her mouth with a green napkin and puts it down. In the next shot, the napkin is still on her mouth, she then puts the napkin down for the second time.

Quotes:
Carmen: Juni, she's not real.

The 3-D thing didn't work for me but there is still enough style and silliness to amuse both kids and adults

Rating:

Juni Cortez is no longer with the OSS and is now a private detective, taking work where he can get it. However, the President himself requests Juni return to service as his sister is in danger. She has entered, and become trapped in, a deadly video game called Game Over which has been designed by the Toymaker. In it he ensnares children's minds forever. Juni is sent in to rescue her and team up to stop the Toymaker's evil plot. Enlisting his grandfather's help, Juni sets out to win the unwinable level 5.

I usually don't enter a film series in the middle simply because it is often difficult to appreciate the third instalment of anything without having seen what has gone before. However, when it comes to a kids' film, I was pretty sure that I could managed to battle through the labyrinth-like plotting of the Sky Kids series! I started watching this film in 3-D (I had a 2 dvd set) but the glasses were a little uncomfortable and the colours looked funny all the way through. After seeing a few items sort of float vaguely around my television I was quite unimpressed and decided just to go with the 2-D disk. The plot is pretty thin (it's never really clear what the attraction of the game is or what the Toymaker even wants) but it sets up a colourful and enjoyable little ride through a computer game - which is delivered pretty well despite all it's silliness!

The main weapon in the Spy Kids' cannon is it's stars - both actors and director. Rodriguez is a very good director when it comes to style and action and his influence makes this film a lot more fun than others likely would. He is slick but also fully aware that he needs to make it `fun' and not just colourful and noisy. It's all a bit silly of course but the 3-D gimmick is a little bit heavy at times (like the old films in the 50's that had actors punching at the screen) but it isn't that bad. The reason the silliness doesn't really damage the film is because the actors seem to play to it - and a very fine series of performances these are. Pretty much all the cast are good fun and their performances are about as hammy and fun as you can imagine. Sabara is great fun - a cool kid without any of the horrid cutesy stuff that can happen. I found Vega less fun as she was a little too smart for my liking, but she was still fun and the rest of the kids were suitably fun with not a bad performance between them. The adult cast will provide much of the fun for the adults watching - there is a large number of Rodriguez regulars in the cast who all overplay to suit the sense of fun the film has.

Montalban is great fun. Forever Khan in my mind, he has a great voice and screen presence and he heavy makes the message of forgiveness work reasonably well and not just being mawkish like it should be! Stallone hams it up and has good fun even if his multiple personalities don't totally work. Clooney has fun in his small role but the rest of the cast are all cameos some of them are used pretty well and got a giggle but others just show their faces. However, they don't detract from the film and it at least will amuse parents to see people like Martin, Trejo, Cumming, Shalhoub, Buscemi, Paxton, Wood and Hayek. The out takes at the end made me realise how good the performances were - it just never dawned on me that, although I knew it wasn't real, that 95% of this was shot on greenscreen - making acting to anything that little bit harder.

Overall, this is a silly film but it is one that kids will love. The sheer sense of fun that Rodriguez brings to it is infectious and makes for a great 90 minutes with the kids. The star cast made it more enjoyable for me and helped the sense that everyone was just enjoying themselves. It is hardly a great film but it does just what you expect it to do and who can ask anymore than that? On the basis of this I will definitely be watching the first two films when I cross their paths. Sad - but true!

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