Spies in Disguise movie review

RATING: PG

LENGTH: 1 hour, 42 minutes

Movie Review Mom GRADE: A-

IN A NUTSHELL:
This cute and colorful animation is loosely based on the Lucas Martell animated short in 2009 called Pigeon: Impossible
This is the first animated film produced by 20th Century Fox to hit theaters since the Disney purchase. The animation, humor, action, and the “feels” all add up to a fun time at the theater for all ages.

Early rumors were that this movie was going to be terrible, so my expectations were low. The great news is that it’s really good and funny! You will be entertained.

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

Some Japanese spoken with subtitles
Lots of potty humor
Lots of cartoon violence; however, one of the characters advocates non-violence.
You’ll learn a lot of pigeon facts.
Twice you see naked men with tattoos but their private parts are blocked by various items. You do, however, see the naked rear end of one of them.
There is a reference to Scooby-Doo Mystery Cases and another one to “Fifty Shades of Grey” that young kids won’t get. That last one seems inappropriate for a kids movie, don’t you think? In fact, some of the humor is very “adult” which makes you wonder if Blue Sky was unsure of its own target audience.
An implied death.
Lots of destruction.

THEMES:

Violence is not always needed.
Teamwork, friendship
Good vs. evil
“You can do more by bringing people together than pulling them apart.” – Walter
Being weird is good.

THINGS I LIKED:

Who doesn’t love cool spy gadgets? Or Will Smith? In 2007, Newsweek called Will Smith “the most powerful actor in Hollywood.” He has been in some box office bombs lately, but he is in full form in this movie. Well, maybe not full form since he’s a pigeon for half of the movie. Some critics worried that his comedic charm wouldn’t translate as well as a pigeon, but I’m happy to announce that it really works.
Tom Holland is the perfect voice to offer a fun contrast to Will Smith’s cool character. Turns out, they’re a great pairing.
Cute spy gags throughout the movie don’t get tiresome.
I thought it was clever to have DJ Khalid voice a character named “Ears.” I love Karen Gillan whether she’s an avatar in Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle, a robot girl in Guardians of the Galaxy (Theatrical), or a character in this movie called “Eyes.”
The marvelous Rachel Brosnahan from her award-winning The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel: Season 1 (Music From The Prime Original Series) voices the character Wendy. It’s a small part, but I love that she’s being included in voice work.
Lots of funny visual gags. There is a lot of humor of all kinds for all ages in this movie.
Why haven’t we had multi-award winning Reba McEntire’s voice in an animated movie before? She’s adorable. Did you know that she’s the #2 Best-selling female musical artist of all time? Who is #1? Barbara Streisand, of course! Reba said that to succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone, and a funny bone.
Lots of really funny slow-motion sequences.
Lots of great locations around the world.
Lots of fun surprises.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

The villain is forgettable, although Ben Mendelsohn’s voice was great.
Predictable plot.
Tons of unrealistic action and scenarios. I guess that describes a lot of cartoons though, right?
All of the Americans are good and all of the bad guys are not American.
Some of the humor is pretty gross.

FUNNY LINES:

“What’s your biggest secret?” – Walter (Tom Holland) “I peed in the pool.” – big Chinese guy
“What happens in the submarine stays in the submarine.” – Lance (Will Smith)
“We about to Walterize this thing.” – Lance (Will Smith)
“Let’s get weird.” – Lance (Will Smith)
“Millennials.” – Lance (Will Smith)

INTERESTING LINES:

“Glitter makes people happy.” – Wendy (Rachel Brosnahan)
“What’s wrong with weird? The world needs weird.” – Wendy (Rachel Brosnahan)
“You can’t save the world with a hug.” – Lance (Will Smith)
“Science is all trial and error.” – Walter (Tom Holland)
“There’s no good guys or bad guys…just people.” – Walter (Tom Holland)
“I’ll always have your back. That’s what it means to be a team.” – Walter (Tom Holland)

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