| Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Robert Rodriguez |
| Produced by | Elizabeth Avellan Robert Rodriguez |
| Written by | Robert Rodriguez |
| Starring | Antonio Banderas Carla Gugino Alexa Vega Daryl Sabara Mike Judge Ricardo Montalban Holland Taylor Christopher McDonald Danny Trejo Cheech Marin Steve Buscemi |
| Music by | John Debney Robert Rodriguez |
| Cinematography | Robert Rodriguez |
| Editing by | Robert Rodriguez |
| Studio | Troublemaker Studios |
| Distributed by | Dimension Films Miramax Films |
| Release date(s) | August 7, 2002 |
| Running time | 101 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $38 million |
| Box office | $119,723,358[1] |
Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams is a 2002 American family film, featuring spies and science fantasy elements. It was written and directed by Robert Rodriguez, and is the second film in the Spy Kids film series, which began with 2001's Spy Kids. Its plot is loosely based on Dr. Moreau and The Island of Lost Souls, hence the title.
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The OSS now has a full child spy section and Carmen Cortez and Juni Cortez have become agents of the OSS and face particularly hard competition with Gary and Gerti Giggles (Matt O'Leary and Emily Osment), the children of double-dealing agent Donnagon Giggles (Mike Judge), whom Carmen and Juni helped to rescue in the previous film. It is shown that Carmen defends Gary and has a crush on him.
After an incident at a local amusement park, where the President's daughter (Taylor Momsen) deliberately sabotages a thrill ride which juggles its passengers, forcing the Giggles and the Cortez kids to compete in the rescue, Donnagon - who has somehow hacked into the teleprompter which the President was reading from - is named the director of the OSS; while Juni is fired after being framed by Gary - who was actually to blame - into losing the "Transmooker", a highly coveted device which can shut off all electronic devices. In his new position as director, Donnagon can carry on with his plan to steal the Transmooker, so he can rule the world.
After Carmen manages to hack into the database and reinstates Juni's level as an agent, she and Juni follow the trail to a mysterious island near Madagascar, which is home to Romero (Steve Buscemi), a lunatic scientist. Romero has been attempting to create genetically-miniaturized animals, so he can make a profit by selling the animals to kids. He had an experiment go wrong after accidentally pouring growth concoction onto the mutated set of animals. When Carmen is captured by a spork, she meets Gerti there who tells her that Gary is really evil and Carmen changes her feelings for Gary and sides with Juni who was going to be hurt by Gary. After a number of action sequences, such as fighting skeletons and being captured by sporks, literally flying pigs, the spy kids - along with the help of their family, Romero and Gerti Giggles - destroy the Transmooker and defeat Donnagon and Gary but Gregorio and Donnagon fight each other. Donnagon is then fired by the President and Gary is disavowed, while Juni quits due to the impersonal treatment of agents by the OSS. During the credits, Machete has Carmen sing as an undercover pop star in a concert. Carmen says she can't sing so Machete gives her a mic which auto-tunes her voice and a belt that helps her dance. He also gives Juni a guitar that plays itself. After the performance, Machete informs Carmen that he hadn't put the batteries in and Carmen was actually singing.
Despite the fact that this film uses over twice the amount of special effects shots than the first film, Robert Rodriguez did not ask the producers for a larger budget; he said[2] "...I told the studio I don't want more money. I just want to be more creative".[2] Rodriguez picked some visual effects companies who were eager and less established, as well as starting up his own Troublemaker Studios, and reemploying Hybride, who had worked with him on the first film.[3] The film employs a certain technique to make the movements of the computer generated creatures resemble the stop-motion work of filmmaker Ray Harryhausen,[2] who has a cameo in the film.[4] The scene with the army of live skeletons was shot on a real rock formation, with the two young actors on safety wires,[5] and the computer generated skeletons added later to over three dozen shots.[5]
Upon its release, the film received mostly positive reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes reports 75% of critics gave the film positive reviews, earning an average rating of 6.6/10. Michael Wilmington of Metromix Chicago, noting how Rodriguez borrows many elements from television and earlier films, stated that, "Rodriguez recycles and refurbishes all these old movie bits with the opportunistic energy of a man looting his old attic toy chest -- but he also puts some personal feeling into the movie. This is a film about families staying together, children asserting themselves and even, to some degree, Latino power".[6]
The film was released on VHS and DVD in the United States on February 18, 2003. The film is also available to download on iTunes. A Blu-ray re-release was scheduled for August 2, 2011 to coincide with the fourth film.
| Music from the Dimension Motion Picture Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by Robert Rodriguez and John Debney | ||||
| Released | August 6, 2002 | |||
| Genre | Soundtrack Rock Pop |
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| Length | 44:04 | |||
| Label | Milan Records | |||
| Professional reviews | ||||
| Robert Rodriguez film soundtrack chronology | ||||
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The film score was co-written by director Robert Rodriguez and composer John Debney, who had also co-written the score for Spy Kids. The sound is a mix of rock, pop and indie rock, and includes songs performed by Alan Cumming and Alexa Vega. Unusually, the orchestral score for the film was recorded in the auditorium of a local high school in Austin, Georgetown High School.[7]
All tracks are composed by John Debney and Robert Rodriguez, and performed by the Texas Philharmonic Orchestra.
Additional music not on the soundtrack album includes "Oye Como Spy", which is an adaptation of Tito Puente's "Oye Como Va", performed by Los Lobos (the song is on the soundtrack album from the first Spy Kids film); and "Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5" for soprano and eight cellos by Heitor Villa-Lobos.
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