MOVIE REVIEW

Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over  (2003)

Starring: Alexa Vega, Daryl Sabara, Antonio Banderas, Sylvester Stallone, Carla Gugino, Ricardo Montalban
Director: Robert Rodriguez

Rating: PG

Studio: Dimension Films

Release Date: 7.25.03

Review Posted: 7.25.03

Spoilers: Minor

By Sara Michelle Fetters

"Spy Kids 3-D" Disappointing Conclusion to Wondrous Family Film Trilogy

I’ve always been a fan of Robert Rodriguez and his fly by the seat of you pants style of filmmaking. From “El Mariachi” to “From Dusk till Dawn” to the original “Spy Kids,” the young director is a true dynamo of passion and energy and his films are justly infused with that effervescence. In fact, his forthcoming final chapter in the Mariachi saga, “Once Upon a Time in Mexico,” might be the one film I’m most anticipating this Fall – maybe even more than the final installment in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.

Well, that might be pushing things just a bit, but I am excited about the film to say the least. Actually, I’m excited every time Rodriguez makes a movie (save maybe the disappointing mess “The Faculty” – I was never very excited about that one even before it was released), especially his fascinatingly entertaining “Spy Kids” series. Both of the first two films about the adventures of two pint-sized government agents and their loving family have been quite wonderful, looking at the world through a child-sized prism that is disarmingly enchanting. Not great films, too be sure, but as warm-hearted family entertainment goes, Rodriguez definitely made two movies adults could enjoy almost as much as their children, ending each with morally upright codas that sing to the power of family and forgiveness.

It also helped that both the 2001 original and last year’s sequel “The Island of Lost Dreams” were fun, frantic and innovative in ways most children’s movies never dare, showcasing equal parts imagination and care. More than guilty pleasures, they’re both good movies in their own right. So it is no surprise that I was more than a bit interested to see how Rodriquez ended his trilogy of pint-sized spies, eagerly awaiting the final chapter “Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over” with all the anticipation of a six-year-old staring down that very first self-bought candy bar.

Admittedly, on paper, “Spy Kids 3-D” certainly sounds like it should be the best of the bunch. Using the amazing three-dimensional high definition cameras created by James Cameron for his Titanic documentary “Ghosts of the Abyss,” “Game Over” sends the spying Cortez children Carmen (Alexa Vega) and Juni (Daryl Sabara) straight into the heart of a virtual reality video game. They are there to stop the evil – and one-time secret agent – the Toymaker (Sylvester Stallone) from taking over the world by enslaving the minds of all the Earth’s children. For children are the future and if you control their minds then you also control the fate of every nation on the planet.

As 3-D entertainment, “Game Over” is sensational. An old standby of the 50’s with macabre classics like “House of Wax” and “The Creature from the Black Lagoon,” 3-D hasn’t exactly ever been the revelation it was suppose to be. In fact, when inept sequels like “Jaws 3-D”, “Friday the 13th Part 3” and “Freddy’s Dead: the Final Nightmare” started throwing out 3-D sequences, it was more a marketing ploy than anything else; an ancient novelty used to get people’s butts into Cineplex seats.

Credited with seven different technical and creative rolls on this film, Rodriguez takes the concept of 3-D to the next level. The film’s virtual reality world is mesmerizing, full of a fun vitality sorely lacking in most standard entertainment fantasies. The sights and colors are truly one-of-a-kind, and the director really does out do himself this time around with the entire look and feel of “Game Over.” In fact, a Nintendo-inspired road race is one of the most giddy and exuberantly entertaining sequences put on film this year, just brimming with child-like glee that’s loads of fun.

Unfortunately, that’s about the only redeeming and recommendable feature of this third “Spy Kids” adventure. Unlike the first two films, Rodriguez the screenwriter really lets himself and his characters down here, crafting an insipid and uninspiring storyline not worthy of his kid-friendly franchise. Most of the movie is spent watching Juni wander aimlessly around the virtual world of the video game, having to endure remarkably lame platitudes delivered by his grandfather (Ricardo Montalban). The tag team effect of Juni and Carmen’s brother/sister relationship is given the short shrift this time around, and with only one character to really follow the familial aspect so key to the success of the first two films is sorely absent.

There are, however, a few moments that get the pulse racing, the chief being the fact Rodriguez gets to use his virtual playground to bring the gifted Montalban out of his wheelchair. Watching the great thespian rise to his feet for the first time in ages – when in fact the actor himself can no longer do so – to chase a virtual butterfly almost brought me to tears. It is a momentous event, not just from a technical aspect but from a purely human one as well, and it is just the type of family empowerment moment I’ve come to expect from Rodriguez and this trilogy.

I also loved the obviously freeing joy Stallone must have been feeling by being able to take on the many schizophrenic aspects of the Toymaker. Prone to talking to different facets of his personality, facets made real inside his virtual realty prison, this is obviously the most fun the aging action star has had on film in ages. He throws himself headfirst into the part, bringing together equal parts joy and merriment to a family film curiously devoid for long stretches of either.

What’s most disappointing, however, about “Spy Kids 3-D” is the surprising absence of the family Cortez that has made the first two films so memorable. A peon to the ideals of familial responsibility and togetherness, Papa (Antonio Banderas) and Mama (Carla Gugino) don’t make their appearance into the movie until the final ten minutes or so. Even though they bring the entire clan, Holland Taylor, Cheech Marin, Danny Trejo, Alan Cumming, Steve Buscemi, George Clooney, Bill Paxton and Tony Shaloub all reprise their roles from the previous two films, it’s only to engage in an onslaught of poorly executed mechanical violence that really isn’t very interesting.

Still, there isn’t too much here to find objectionable for kids of almost any age, and I definitely like how the concepts of forgiveness and family can soften even the most hardened of hearts and bring them back to the side of good. Salma Hayek also pops up effervescently this time around, and there is a highly amusing cameo that’s guaranteed to bring a good chuckle or two. And with more innovatively astounding visuals (at almost two thirds the cost) of just about any other special effects filled film of the summer, “Spy Kids 3-D” is never less than partially diverting.

If only Rodriguez had crafted his story with a bit more care and remembered the themes that made the initial exploits of the junior Cortez’s so memorable. As it is, “Game Over” isn’t just the film’s tagline; it’s also the coda for what happens to one’s enthusiasm in regards to the whole series. As disappointments go, it is hard to think of a bigger one this summer than this.

Rating: êê  (out of 4)

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