Spy Kids: Armageddon movie review

MOVIE TITLE: Spy Kids: Armageddon

This cute addition to the Spy Kids franchise is now playing in select theaters and on Netflix. Technically, it’s a reboot of the 2001 family adventure.

RATING: PG

LENGTH: 1 hour 48 minutes

MOVIE REVIEW MOM GRADE: C

IN A NUTSHELL:

The family-friendly flick was directed by Robert Rodriguez, who also wrote the script with his son, Racer Rodriguez. I love that he involves his family members in the movie-making business. He has said that this is his family making a movie for other families. That’s fairly unique in the film industry. His son, Rebel, has a composer credit in the film, and his daughter, Rhiannon, performs the song called “Armageddon” which you can hear during the rolling credits.

In case you’re wondering, he’s not related to Gina Rodriguez, who stars in the movie…at least not what I could find on the Internet.

THINGS I LIKED:

The film definitely has a strong Latino influence, which pairs nicely with the newest teen superhero to hit the market: Blue Beetle. Almost everyone in the film is Hispanic.
I adore both Gina Rodriguez and Zachary Levi, so I was really excited to see them in this together. They both look fantastic! Individually, they did a great job, but I was surprised by their lack of chemistry together. Still a fan of both of them though.
The young stars provide the cuteness factor you’re hoping for: Connor Esterson and Everly Carganilla. The director named the children after his sister and himself, since they had so much fun playing pretend spies when they were kids.
Fun fact: Everly Carganilla actually played a young Gina Rodriguez in her popular TV show Jane the Virgin when she was only 9 months old! That was such a cute show, by the way.
The villain is played by Billy Magnussen.
The “Spy Suit Generator” scene was totally adorable and made me laugh out loud.
Another cute scene is when the kids try to sneak down the hall at night while their parents are sleeping, but they’re not successful because there are so many creaks on the wood floor. The director revealed that he got the idea for the scene from his similar experience while growing up. Me too, Robert!
I laughed when I heard the name of the video game that could possibly take over the world: Hyskor. We’re told the precursor to that game was “Lowskor.” ha ha The director’s kids had actually started creating a video game named Hyskor, which is what gave their dad the idea to include it in the movie.
There are quite a few Easter eggs in this movie. For example, we see the children eating “Great White Bites”, a cereal featured in the Sharkboy and Lavagirl movie.
Kids will love all of the cool gadgets and spy tools.
The film really does have all of the things kids like: cool spy stuff, action, comedy, villains who aren’t too scary, and showcasing kids who are smarter than any of the adults.
Ultimately, the movie is both adorable and ridiculous.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

There is SO much exposition, meaning that the characters have to tell you everything they’re doing and why. It talks down to its audience. In addition, the dialogue is not very inspired. It sounded like it was written by ChatGPT.
It’s definitely not as good as the first films in the trilogy.
The CGI is surprisingly terrible. Because of SO many green screen moments, the acting is often wooden. What a disappointment.
Some fans of the franchise might not like the fact that the original young actors from the first Spy Kids aren’t in this reboot. The director explained that he wanted to create an entirely new family but that he is playing around with the idea of bringing them back in to connect those stories to the new ones.

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

No profanity.
Lots of destruction.
Some characters are in dangerous situations.
We see some skeletons, but they turn out to be robots that are nearly as scary-looking.
There is a LOT of talk about playing fair and being honest. That’s something every parent can be glad to hear!
Heads up: your kids might ask you what Armageddon means…