I'm filling in this section last, so fatigue is taking me. Forgive my brevity. The good VASTLY outweighs the bad here. So, then, the following elements of "Spy Kids" are marvy fab:

(1) The child actors. They underplay, they play their own evil twins, they perform in complicated action sequences, AND YOU NEVER EVER QUESTION THEM. "Spy Kids"' light subject matter belies the enormity of this achievement. Miss Alexa Vega, playing the older, tougher sister, is a real find: Watch for her career to blossom along the lines of Christina Ricci as she reaches puberty (though one hopes she will blossom with less angst).

(2) Nary a tear is shed. Think about that. When's the last time a kid's movie DIDN'T feature a weeping moppet?

(3) Antonio B. and Carla G. As the parents, they maintain a fragile balance of cool and caring -- and they don't fall into the usual kids'-movie parental caricature of being mean, misunderstanding, mushy or moronic. This, too, is an enormous achievement, to my thinking.

(4) As usual, RR's editing and shot placement are just utterly correct and tight as hell, though the editing's almost too tight for its own good; see below.

(5) The imagery -- scary robot men with giant thumbs for heads and arms and legs, for example -- speaks to a sort of dream logic that makes sense to kids (if memory serves). Same with the film's common-sense-defying storyline, which conforms to playground fantasy play-logic in a big way. This was the first time in years that illogical story elements didn't irk me.

(6) The film makes for easy playground re-enactment. Allow me to explain: The spy toys are often converted child-friendly items (electrically charged gum, etc.) that are readily available to enterprising pre-teens. There's also a crackerjack action scene set in a playground -- again, easy to re-enact on the schoolyard.

(7) Certain jokes. The backmasked pleas for help uttered by mutated agents enslaved on the evil children's show. Banderas looking at the camera and dismissing certain emotional outbursts by saying, "Latinos."

Maybe you had to be there.

(8) The casting of Latinos throughout as heroes. The female sibling cast as the "strong" one in the relationship. Little reversals like that.

You get the idea.

*****

VI. WHAT'S BAD?

(1) This from Maximillian: The Dimension-made print we saw here in Minnesota was a bit shabby. "Maybe it was just the print we saw, but it was a bit murky, splotchy," he said. "I'm sure Rodriguez is f***ing furious about it."

(2) Also from Max: "Did the movie go just a LITTLE bit too fast for the kiddies?" This is a profound critique, and a bit double-edged because RR's haste is also a strength, but this is maybe the only really valid critique of the film; Rodriguez cuts so fast it's hard to build character or deep empathy, if that even matters here.

(3) What the blazes happened to Cheech Marin's character? He's transmogrified and then vanishes utterly -- a real waste. Sequel fodder, perhaps?

(4) And finally, this too from dear Maximillian: Rather too much of the movie may go over kids' heads, due to RR's hasty delivery of narrative information. Our screening was packed with the fruit of the Midwest tot population, and I mostly heard PARENTS laughing, not their middleborn spawn. That said, children were (a) attentive as hell during the screening, and (b) reportedly "spazzing out" in the lobby afterward.

VII. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

Wild fun. Sustained laughs. A sharp-yet-dreamlike prepubescent mindset. Playground adventure. Take a child. You won't suffer a bit.

Warmest,

Alexandra DuPont.

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