12 years after the release of “Spy Kids: All the Time in the World,” it was announced that “Spy Kids: Armageddon” was coming out Sept. 22 on Netflix. This excited fans, as many of us have fond memories of watching the “Spy Kids” series when we were kids. This film has been advertised as a “Spy Kids 5,” so there was a lot of excitement surrounding the film.
“Spy Kids: Armageddon” follows two siblings, Toby and Patty (Connor Esterson and Everly Carganilla) whose parents are spies. However they don’t know that, which creates a big rift in their life when one night they decide to break the rules and unknowingly spread a worldwide computer virus. This movie follows Toby and Patty as they become spies to help their parents, who are played by Gina Rodriguez and Zarchery Levi, and save the world from a powerful computer virus.
When I sat down and watched this movie I caught so many parallels to the original which was fun to see. You can see common parallels such as a video game taking over the world, as many saw in “Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over” or a cool spy gadget montage, which is always a classic to see. Everywhere you looked, you could find moments that connected to the original beloved Spy Kids.
Even though it was fun to catch the similarities between the movies, it did end up making the story predictable. The movie was widely advertised as a Spy Kids 5, so many people were expecting a fun new plot line that had unpredictable plot twists like the first movies. Instead, we were given the modernized reboot that we knew the end of.
The main message of the movie was to be honest and not resort to violence, and it was very prominent with Patty reminding you every two seconds. It would have been fine in the movie if it wasn’t a constant topic. Two characters would casually be having a conversation when all of a sudden Patty would butt in and remind them to be honest and kind. By the end of the movie it felt very repetitive and bothersome.
On top of an overbearing message, the acting was hard to watch. Rodriguez and Levi did a great job conveying emotion, while Esterson and Carganilla did a poor job in comparison. There was a lot of whining and baby-like behavior, which got quite annoying by the time the movie was over. I do understand that it is hard to find good child actors, but I feel like their characters could have been represented differently, with more integrity and authority.
Whilst the movie was playing I came to a realization that the kids didn’t really feel like spies. The one time that they were in public, they weren’t trying to conceal their identity. In the original “Spy Kids” the mom worked so hard so that her family could live normally without knowing who she really is. There was no element of secrecy in this reboot. Everyone knew everything about everyone. This led to no twists and turns that typically turn up in spy movies.
With all the anticipation of the fifth “Spy Kids,” it brought lots of disappointment. With cool parallels comes predictability, which in the end brought a drag of a movie. If I were to watch a “Spy Kids” movie I would still reach for the first, which is filled with nostalgia and sentimentality.
“Spy Kids: Armageddon”: ★★☆☆☆
