Hey folks, Harry here. Later today - actually in about 12 hours, I'll be going to the SPY KIDS 2: ISLAND OF LOST DREAMS premiere here in Austin. I'll be seeing it digitally projected after a big ol street carnival with rides and everything, but I don't intend to review the film, given my friendship with Rodriguez, but we do have feedback from some very young children kids that saw SPY KIDS 2 in Houston yesterday. All 4 kids loved it, while the mommy that went hated it (but we have no idea if Mommy likes anything good or not). So here we go....
Hi Harry,
DangerMan here. I’ve given you a tip once (the cool first trailer for “Return to Neverland”) and a review once. But this time the spotlight is on DangerWoman and, especially, the AICN Spies, Junior Division, Codename: The Dwarves. We knew Grumpy posted the pics of the treehouse so we couldn’t wait to do our part, too. DangerWoman scored passes to Spy Kids 2. I had to respond to a proximity alarm. It told me Doc OT was in town. Whilst I battled the fiend, they snuck over to AMC Studio 30 for Houston’s Premier Showing of Spy Kids 2: The Island Of Lost Dreams.
DangerWoman left no doubt (she absolutely hated it). There was nothing she liked about it. She had not seen the first one. I have, so I may rent this one when it hits DVD. The children, however, were unanimous in their love for this movie.
I told them before they left that a debriefing would be necessary to post on your site, so here’s the interview (with minor spoilers, so spoiler-crybabies you’re warned):
Subjects:
DangerGirl (daughter, 10-year-old girl, current faves: Cats & Dogs, Spirit & Monsters, Inc.)
CatGirl (daughter’s friend, 11-year-old girl, current faves: Return To Neverland, Cats & Dogs)
UnderCoverGirl (daughter’s friend, 10-year-old girl, current faves: Emperor’s New Groove, A Bug’s Life, Stuart Little 1)
Poco Bandido (son, 4-year-old boy in love with all things Star Wars, especially ROTJ – Come on DVDs)
DangerMan: Did you see Spy Kids 1?
CatGirl: Not me.
DangerGirl: The rest of us did.
DangerMan: What did you think of it?
DangerGirl: I liked it, but I liked Spy Kids 2 better. It’s longer, I think.
DangerMan: Part 2 is longer?
DangerGirl: Yeah.
UnderCoverGirl: I like them both the same.
DangerMan: On a scale of ten?
UnderCoverGirl: They are ‘8’s.
DangerMan: Did you like SK1, Poco?
Poco Bandido: Yup.
DangerMan: Did you like SK2?
Poco Bandido: I loved it. It’s my favorite movie.
DangerMan: What about Star Wars?
Poco Bandido: I don’t like it any more.
DangerGirl: Yeah, right!
DangerMan: Uh-huh… You really like that T-shirt you got, don’t you?
Poco Bandido: Yes!
DangerMan: Can I have your purple lightsaber?
Poco Bandido: No!
DangerGirl: See?! I’d give Spy Kids 2 a ‘10’.
CatGirl: ‘8’
DangerMan: Your favorite character?
Girlz: CARMEN!
Poco Bandido: JUNI!!!
UnderCoverGirl: The reason I liked Carmen was because she was the oldest and she was cool.
DangerGirl: She was really awesome.
CatGirl: I liked her because she’s cool like my sister and she’s the oldest.
DangerMan: What did you think of their grandfather?
UnderCoverGirl: He was neat.
DangerGirl: Yeah. He stayed in the wheelchair the whole movie.
CatGirl: But the wheelchair could fly. And the Grandma had wings, too.
DangerMan: Have any of you seen “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan”?
(All of them looked at each other and shrugged shoulders as I hung my head in shame)
DangerMan: Don’t worry the Director’s Cut DVD is coming this Tuesday, the same day as Fellowship Of The Ring. What were your favorite parts?
UnderCoverGirl: When Carmen started dancing and singing…
CatGirl: …And when Juni and Alexandra (the President’s daughter) are doing the dance called ballet…
UnderCoverGirl: It was all about saving the world.
DangerGirl: Yeah.
UnderCoverGirl: …And the coolest part was when the kids beat up the drink servers and Carmen did a backflip.
CatGirl: When they were in the dragonfly machine with all those gadgets, especially the food they had.
UnderCoverGirl: And the outtakes at the end.
CatGirl: Those were funny.
DangerGirl: And when the agent fell in poop.
CatGirl: And it got in his mouth.
DangerMan: Uh-huh… Was there anything you didn’t like about the movie?
DangerGirl: Nope.
UnderCoverGirl: The part I didn’t like was when Gary was fighting with Juni, because he thought he was better than everybody, because he was Spy Kid Of The Year.
CatGirl: I didn’t like it when the skeletons were chasing Juni for the necklace that had pretty jewels on it.
DangerMan: Why?
CatGirl: It was a little scary.
UnderCoverGirl: And they said the ‘SH-‘ word.
DangerGirl: Huh? What’s the ‘SH-‘ word?
DangerMan: DangerGirl is USUALLY never around those kinds of words, but this is ‘PG’.
DangerGirl: What does it mean?
DangerMan: The same thing as poop, but its considered vulgar and rude to say, especially in a kids movie. Anyway, I’ve talked to DangerWoman about the movie. She said, the special effects were horrible, the CG was unbelievably bad and this screening was blurry.
DangerGirl: Well, the sound kept making scratchy noises.
DangerMan: What about the CG, the Computer Animated Special Effects?
(More shrugged shoulders & confused looks)
DangerMan: She talked about skates, feet on fire, pyramids, does that sound familiar at all?
DangerGirl: That was all neat.
Poco Bandido: Yeah!
CatGirl: Yeah, they were flying through the sky.
DangerMan: It looked good enough for you?
All: Yes.
DangerMan: Would you recommend this movie to other kids?
All: Yes.
DangerGirl: The movie was awesome.
