Psycho's Movie Reviews #360: Spy Kids 2: Isle Of Lost Dreams (2002)

Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams is a 2002 American action comedy film written, shot, edited and directed by Robert Rodriguez. Rodriguez also produced with Elizabeth Avellán. It stars Antonio Banderas, Carla Gugino, Alexa Vega, Daryl Sabara, Mike Judge, Ricardo Montalbán, Holland Taylor, Emily Osment, Christopher McDonald, and Steve Buscemi.

The second instalment in the Spy Kids film series, which began with 2001's Spy Kids, the film premiered at the Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on July 28, 2002. Dimension Films theatrically released the film on August 7, 2002. Upon release, Spy Kids 2 received mostly positive reviews from critics and grossed over $119 million worldwide.

Plot

The OSS now has a full child spy section, of which Carmen Cortez and Juni Cortez have become agents. Although they were the first of the new Spy Kids Division, they are not the top spy kids, and they face fierce competition from Gary and Gerti Giggles, OSS agent Donnagon Giggles' children, whom Carmen and Juni rescued on their first mission. Carmen defends Gary, as she has a crush on him, straining her relationship with Juni.

At the OSS awards banquet, Donnagon hacks into the president's TelePrompTer, and is named director of the OSS instead of Gregorio Cortez. A fight ensues when a group of Magna Men arrive, rendering all adults unconscious. They seeking the "Transmooker", a highly coveted device which can shut off all electronic devices. Juni recovers it, but drops it when Gary tries to grab it. Gary blames Juni for the loss, resulting in his being fired.

The next morning Carmen hacks into the database, reinstating Juni as an agent. They take a mission meant for Gary and Gerti to recover the Transmooker. Using some hints from their mentor, Fegan Floop, and their former arch-nemesis, Alexander Minion, they follow the trail to a mysterious island where no electronics work. Meanwhile, Gary and Gerti are rerouted to the Gobi Desert and while trying to pinpoint their position fall into a pit of camel faeces, whereupon they swear revenge.

Shortly after arriving Carmen and Juni meet Romero, the sole human inhabitant of the Island of Leeke Leeke, a scientist who has been attempting to create genetically-miniaturized animals, to sell them to kids in "miniature zoos." An experiment went wrong, created miniaturized hybrid creatures too, then after accidentally pouring growth concoction on them, all of the mutants became bigger. He fears being eaten, so is unwilling to leave his lab.

Carmen is captured by a Spork, a flying pig, and dropped into its nest with Gerti, who tells her that Gary is genuinely evil. Her feelings for Gary change after he tries to kill Juni, and she protects him. Romero, encouraged by Juni, discovers his creatures are much friendlier than he thought. Carmen and Juni eventually find and recover the Transmooker, and are surprised when their family joins them. Donnagon then confronts the group, takes the Transmooker and, after a fight with Gregorio tries to destroy the Cortez family with it, but it malfunctions. Gerti had sabotaged it and she threatens Donnagon with telling everything to her mother.

The President and his staff arrive on the island. He and his daughter Alexandra fire Donnagon; Gary is temporarily disavowed, and Alexandra appoints Gregorio as director of the OSS on her father's behalf. Even though offered a promotion, Juni resigns due to the impersonal treatment he had received by the OSS after being framed. As the Cortez family leaves the island, Romero gives Juni a miniature spider-monkey as a gift, and the island's inhabitants bid farewell to the Cortez family.

During the credits, Machete hosts a concert featuring Carmen (with a microphone which auto-tunes her voice, and a belt that helps her dance), and Juni (with a guitar that plays itself), but realizes too late that he never put any batteries in them before they went onstage. Meanwhile, Dinky Winks, the owner of Troublemakers theme park, paddles to Romero's island to strike up a business deal.

Production

Filming

Spy Kids 2 was filmed entirely on High Definition digital video. After seeing George Lucas using digital video for Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, Rodriguez tested the technology during re shoots for the first Spy Kids film. Rodriguez used the cameras unfiltered.

• Arenal Lake, Costa Rica

• Austin, Texas, USA

• Big Bend National Park, Texas, USA

• Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica

• San Antonio, Texas, USA

• Six Flags Over Texas, Arlington, Texas, USA

Special Effects

Despite using over twice the amount of special effects than the first film, Rodriguez did not ask the producers for a larger budget; he said "...I told the studio I don't want more money. I just want to be more creative". Rodriguez picked some visual effects companies who were eager and less established, as well as starting up his own Troublemaker Studios, and reemploying Hybrid, who had worked with him on the first film. Gregor Punchatz, the film's lead animator, employed a certain technique to make the movements of the computer generated creatures resemble the stop-motion work of filmmaker Ray Harryhausen, who has a cameo in the film. The scene with the army of live skeletons was shot on a real rock formation, with the two young actors on safety wires, and the computer generated skeletons added later to over three dozen shots.

Music

The film score was co-written by director Robert Rodriguez and composer John Debney, who had also co-written the score for Spy Kids. The sound is a mix of rock, pop, and indie rock, and includes songs performed by Alan Cumming and Alexa Vega. Unusually, the orchestral score was recorded in the auditorium of a local high school in Austin, Georgetown High School.

All tracks composed by Debney and Rodriguez, and performed by the Texas Philharmonic Orchestra.

Release/Reception/Box Office

Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams opened theatrically on August 7, 2002 in 3,307 venues and earned $16,711,716 in its first weekend, ranking third in the North American box office behind XXX and the second weekend of Signs. The film ended its run on January 12, 2003, having grossed $85,846,429 in the United States and Canada, and $33,876,929 overseas for a worldwide total of $119,723,358.

The film was released on VHS and DVD in the United States on February 18, 2003. The film is also available to download on iTunes. A Blu-ray re-release was scheduled for August 2, 2011 (coincidentally, this movie also takes place in 2011) to coincide with the fourth film.

On Rotten Tomatoes, Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams has a 75% approval score based on 136 reviews and an average rating of 6.6/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Though the concept is no longer fresh, Spy Kids 2 is still an agreeable and energetic romp." Metacritic reports a 66 out of 100 rating based on reviews from 29 critics, indicating "generally favourable reviews".

Roger Ebert gave the film 3 out of 4 stars and commented, "With "Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams," the Spy Kids franchise establishes itself as a durable part of the movie landscape: a James Bond series for kids." Kenneth Turan of the New York Times gave it 4 out of 5 stars said, "The movie is a gaudy, noisy thrill ride -- hyperactive, slightly out of control and full of kinetic, mischievous charm." Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly wrote, "The antics are a tad more frantic, and the gizmos work overtime, as if Robert Rodriguez felt the hot breath of el diablo on his neck. On the other hand, the inventiveness is still superior and the network of fiends and family is extended." Michael Wilmington of Metro mix Chicago, noting how Rodriguez borrows many elements from television and earlier films, stated that, "Rodriguez recycles and refurbishes all these old movie bits with the opportunistic energy of a man looting his old attic toy chest -- but he also puts some personal feeling into the movie. This is a film about families staying together, children asserting themselves and even, to some degree, Latino power".

Budget $38 million

Box office $119.7 million

My Review

Robert Rodriguez continues his kiddie franchise with everybody returning for the sequel. I continue to like the arguing Cortez siblings. I also like the Giggles as their foil. Rodriguez stays with his wild CGI style. There are some Ray Harryhausen-like touches such as the creatures and the warrior skeletons. I think some Rodriguez fans judge this franchise too harshly for being kids movies. This franchise exists as its own thing and should be enjoyed as such.

After becoming the first kid agents, Carmen and Juni are now just part of a much bigger OSS Juniors agency and are not the toast of the town anymore. When a secret device is stolen from under their noses, Juni and Carmen are suspended from the OSS and their main rivals sent on a mission to a mysterious island to recover their loss. However Carmen and Juni learn the details of the mission and gazump Gary and Gerti Giggles by hacking the computer system. They head to the island but can they redeem themselves or will they only make it worse? Although the film has lost the novelty value of Carmen and Juni's adventure into a new world and this film has made everything bigger and more exaggerated (if indeed that was even possible). This is a bit of a problem in terms of the story and the spectacle of the film but it more or less holds it together by having the same sense of fun just about holding it together. The story is just as silly as the first film but the effects are bigger (but not better) and in a way this takes away a little from the fun – the spectacle is not good enough to carry the film but at times that exactly what it feels like it is trying to do. It still has a good dose of humour and is certainly not boring for adults but it must be said that I did not find it as enjoyable as the first film.

The overuse of average effects is one problem that I didn't expect with Rodriguez but there it was. Other than that the film is well directed with the silly tone of the film in mind and still moves along well enough. The cast are not as much of a help as they were in the first film. Vega and Sabara are both still good and avoid all the traps of the "cute kids" in films. Banderas and Gugino are less well used this time although they do share some amusing scenes with Montalban and Taylor. Cheech, Trejo, Buscemi and Cumming all show up but don't add that much – although I laughed out loud at McDonald's "doomed" line early on in the film.

I think this sequel is a lot of fun, not quite as good or as innovative as its predecessor but a major step up from Spy Kids 3D: Game Over, which had potential but was surprisingly mediocre. For me, Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams's only problems were the slow beginning and sometimes the plot was a little disjointed. But what does save it are some good laughs, some really cool gadgets and special effects and the spirited acting. And what really made it work was the chemistry between Daryl Sabarra and Alexa Vega, both are tremendous fun on screen and have excellent chemistry together. And while a tad irrelevant to the story, they perform a cute and fun song together during the end credits. The direction is tight and assured, the script is witty and funny and the film skips along effortlessly. This is a sequel worth watching, maybe not quite as good as its original, but it is fun to watch. 8/10

{I'm sorry, but 'Isle of Dreams' is a badass song. This sequel is by far the best one of the series, just for this banger alone}