Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams (PG, 2002)

Carmen (Alexa Vega) and Juni Cortez (Daryl Sabara) are back in SPY KIDS 2, and they're now full-time operatives of the spy organization OSS and its new kids unit. After a close call involving the President's young daughter and their top competition, the Giggles siblings, Gertie (Emily Osment) and Gary (Matt O'Leary), Carmen and Juni get the chance to prove themselves and save the day once again. At a big party, the Giggles kids' father is mysteriously appointed director of the OSS, all of the adults are knocked out by drugged champagne, and the all-important Transmooker device is stolen. The Giggles kids are assigned to get it back, but the Cortez kids substitute themselves and are off to a mysterious island. On the island, they have to keep ahead of all kinds of strange creatures and the Giggles. A mad scientist (Steve Bucscemi) has been using the island for genetic experiments, and he has stolen the Transmooker. The Transmooker turns off anything that works with electricity, so the kids have to solve most of their problems with the two things that do work -- their brains and the last gift from their gadget-master uncle Machete, a rubber band. He tells them that it has "999 uses, and you have to figure out which one to use."

Hurray for Spy Kids 2, an imaginatively joyous adventure. Like the first one, this is fresh, funny, exciting, and brilliantly inventive. The OSS party scene is simply marvelous, as a cordon of Secret Service agents move from side to side in perfect formation to allow the President's daughter to have enough space for her ballet dance.

It was sheer inspiration to bring in another generation of spies, with the magnificent Ricardo Montalban and Holland Taylor as Ingrid Cortez's parents, far more terrifying for Gregorio than the most powerful of bad guys. The story sags slightly toward the middle, and the part with Cheech Marin (who has appeared in all of the movies made by screenwriter/director Robert Rodriguez) seems awkward and unfinished, as though some scenes are missing. It is still a wonderful family movie. I just hope they make another one every year.

Studio: Dimension
Director: Robert Rodriguez
Cast: Alexa Vega, Antonio Banderas, Daryl Sabara
Genre: Family and Kids
Run time: 100 minutes
Theatrical release: August 7, 2002
DVD release: February 18, 2003
MPAA Rating: PG
MPAA explanation: action and mild language