| Spy Kids | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Robert Rodriguez |
| Produced by | Elizabeth Avellan Robert Rodriguez |
| Written by | Robert Rodriguez |
| Starring | Antonio Banderas Carla Gugino Alexa Vega Daryl Sabara Alan Cumming Teri Hatcher Cheech Marin Danny Trejo Robert Patrick Tony Shalhoub |
| Music by | John Debney Danny Elfman Los Lobos Robert Rodriguez Harry Gregson-Williams Heitor Pereira |
| Cinematography | Guillermo Navarro |
| Editing by | Robert Rodriguez |
| Studio | Troublemaker Studios |
| Distributed by | Dimension Films Miramax Films |
| Release date(s) | March 30, 2001 |
| Running time | 88 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English, Español |
| Budget | $50 million (est.) |
| Box office | $147,934,180 [1] |
Spy Kids is a 2001 American sci-fi family film. It is the first film of the Spy Kids series. It is directed and written by Robert Rodriguez. It stars Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara. Rodriguez also produced with Elizabeth Avellan and Guillermo Navarro and was the editor of the film. The film was released in United States theaters on March 30, 2001 and on VHS and DVD on September 28, 2001.
Contents |
Carmen and Juni Cortez live with their parents, Ingrid and Gregorio, who they believe are boring, unaware that their parents are actually semi-retired international spies, working for an organization called the OSS (Organization of Super Spies, a reference to the Office of Strategic Services). Originally, Ingrid and Gregorio were enemies until they fell in love and got married. They retired to some degree when they had their children.
At the beginning of the film, Carmen's main concern in life is with the unwelcome responsibility of babysitting her brother, Juni, and is therefore usually mean to him. However, underneath her abusive exterior, Carmen is hiding secrets of her own: she skips school, and has to wear diapers at night due to having problems with bedwetting. She is desperate to keep both of these problems secret, especially from her brother. Juni lacks self-esteem and is a fan of a children's television show called "Floop's Fooglies." Hosted by Fegan Floop and co-starring the Fooglies—colorful, mutant, gibberish speaking friends of Floop—the show proves to be an irritant to Gregorio, who openly displays his dislike for the program. When he suspects the show is involved in the disappearance of several fellow spies, Ingrid and Gregorio decide to investigate and leave their children in the care of "Uncle" Felix Gumm, a man not actually their uncle but, rather, a family guardian. Ingrid and Gregorio are captured by Floop's men, the ever idiotic Thumb-Thumbs, robots with thumbs for legs, arms and heads that wear red vests. Carmen and Juni discover the truth about their parents when they find that their parents have been kidnapped.
In Floop's island castle, the entertainer is reluctantly assisting a businessman named Mr. Lisp in creating an army of superstrong robots, using the children of world leaders as a disguise, to conquer the world. The robots were constructed by Floop's servant Alexander Minion. An item named the Third Brain is required to power the robots, or at least give them the ability to speak and think. Ingrid and Gregorio were brought in, due to Gregorio being one of the scientists who created the Third Brain and hid it, although he refuses to give the hiding place. Floop's minions invade the Cortez home, although Carmen and Juni escape whilst Felix is captured, but not before he tells the children the truth about their parents. The children flee to a safe house where they decide to become spies, until Ms. Gradenko, a fellow spy, arrives to help them. It is revealed that Third Brain is hidden in the house and that Gradenko is in allegiance with Lisp. The children escape but soon encounter robotic clones of themselves who steal the Third Brain and deliver it to Minion, who takes command of the robots and imprisons Floop.
Carmen and Juni locate Gregorio's estranged older brother and inventor, Machete, who harbors bitter feelings against his younger brother, similar to the feelings Carmen harbored toward Juni; Machete was apparently forced to watch over Gregorio and left him because of this. He refuses to help the children because of this. With no support from their uncle, the children sneak away to rescue their parents on their own, stealing a map of Floop's castle and a spy plane to get them there. Their sibling rivalry comes to a head, however, when Carmen's continuing criticisms and name-calling pushes Juni to retaliate by calling her "diaper lady," starting a quarrel that almost crashes the plane. As they work together to safely land the craft, Juni reveals that he had always been aware of Carmen's nighttime bedwetting, but kept that knowledge to himself at their mother's insistence. Having come to an understanding of each other as brother and sister, their relationship begins to improve from this point on.
The two make it to the castle and search for their parents. Juni finds Floop and frees him, convincing him to help them and explaining what was missing from his TV show- children. Carmen, Juni and Floop free Ingrid and Gregorio and then confront Minion, trapping him in a machine that creates the Fooglies on the children's show (who are actually the missing agents). Minion deliberately starts the machine but escapes before he becomes a Fooglie, altering his appearance with three extra heads and combined hands with multiple fingers. The spies confront Gradenko, Minion and Lisp and are attacked by their 500-man army of child robots. Machete arrives to help, later on claiming he came back for the same reason he left, meaning that he was told to watch over his brother. Floop rewrites the children's minds to make them act like children (as Minion says to Lisp, "They have minds of their own now, sir; anything we tell them to do goes in one ear and out the other!"), saving the Cortez family and causing the children to play with Gradenko, Minion and Lisp, tossing them around in the air. Gregorio and Machete reform their brotherly relationship, with both of them claiming neither of them even remembering why Machete left, and Floop redesigns his show with Minion and the robotic Carmen and Juni as his new characters. The leader of the OSS, Devlin, offers the Cortez children jobs as spies, to which Carmen responds that the spywork is easy, whilst keeping their Cortez family together is the hardest mission of all. Having adopted a stronger value of family unity, she demands that they be allowed to work together as a family.
| Spy Kids: Music from the Dimension Motion Picture | ||||
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| Soundtrack album by Various artists | ||||
| Released | April 10, 2001 | |||
| Genre | Soundtrack Rock Pop |
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| Length | 31:03 | |||
| Label | Hollywood Records | |||
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| Robert Rodriguez film soundtrack chronology | ||||
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The film score is written by John Debney and Danny Elfman, with contributions from a variety of others, including director Robert Rodriguez and Marcel Rodriguez. Among Elfman's contributions is "Floop's Song (Cruel World)", which is performed by Alan Cumming. Los Lobos covers the Tito Puente song, "Oye Como Va" (adapted as "Oye Como Spy" by David Garza and Robert Rodriguez). The song was nominated for "outstanding song in a motion picture soundtrack" at the 2002 ALMA Awards. The closing theme, "Spy Kids (Save the World)", is performed by the Los Angeles indie pop band, Fonda.
The score won an award at the ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards.
The film received critical acclaim upon release, with an approval rating of 93% percent and an average rating of 7.2 out of 10 on Rotten Tomatoes.
A special edition with deleted scenes was released to theaters on August 8, 2001. It also was released with Kellogg's products. There were plans to release the special edition to DVD but it never materialized, despite the fact that a director's commentary and interviews were already recorded for it.[2]
| Award | Result | Category | Recipient |
|---|---|---|---|
| ALMA Award | Won | Outstanding Director in a Motion Picture | Robert Rodriguez |
| Nominated | Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture | Antonio Banderas | |
| Outstanding Motion Picture | Spy Kids | ||
| Outstanding Screenplay (Original or Adapted) | Robert Rodriguez | ||
| Outstanding Song in a Motion Picture Soundtrack | Los Lobos For the song "Oye Como Spy" |
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| ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards | Won | Top Box Office Films | John Debney |
| Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Horror, USA | Nominated | Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film | Spy Kids |
| Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards | Nominated | Best Family Film - Live Action | Spy Kids |
| Kid's Choice Awards, USA | Nominated | Favorite Male Action Hero | Antonio Banderas |
| Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards | Nominated | Best Family Film | Spy Kids |
| Young Artist Awards | Nominated | Best Family Feature Film - Comedy | Spy Kids |
| Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actress | Alexa Vega |
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