Spy Kids: Armageddon review: Netflix levels up the franchise

Netflix’s new Spy Kids movie bears the burden of a million expectations.

Robert Rodriguez’s 2001 original was iconic. He built a children’s movie around exactly what he knew kids wanted to see: themselves as the heroes of the kinds of exciting genre movies the adults were watching. The movie was based on what he knew kids wanted to see: themselves as the heroes of exciting genre movies that adults were watching. Spy Kids, children aren’t tagalongs or mascots — they get to save their parents, play around with fancy spy gadgets, and do all sorts of cool, exciting things. Spy Kids has already seen new things. There are two sequels that focus on the same characters. In 2011, there was a “soft reboot/kinda-sequel” and in 2018, a Netflix animated show.

Even so, there are still fans who love the original. Spy Kids might wonder if Netflix’s new reboot film could ever match the highs of the original movie. You can tell if you remember when you were young and first saw the movie. Spy Kids, of course the new one won’t feel the same. But that’s OK, because Spy Kids ArmageddonThe magic is brought to a brand new audience. It’s meant first and foremost for viewers discovering this series for the first time.

Rodriguez still has an acute understanding of the things that make movies fun for children. The elements of the original that were so evocative — the gadgets, the training, the campy special effects — are all back in his revamped movie. Although Armageddon’s adult cast isn’t as captivating as Carla Gugino and Antonio Banderas were in the first movie, Rodriguez and his son Racer, who co-wrote the script, deftly expand their focus this time out, giving the latest Spy KidsA movie with a timely message

[Ed. note: This post contains slight setup spoilers for Spy Kids: Armageddon, as well as spoilers for the old Spy Kids movies.]

Robert Rodriguez/Netflix

The original Spy Kids, Armageddon follows two kids — this time out, Patty (Everly Carganilla) and Tony (Connor Esterson) — who discover that their parents are secret agents. Like in the first film, they must rescue their parents after they are abducted by an evil supervillain. The kids this time are younger, and more tech-savvy. Even though their dad is very strict with their screen time. Instead of the villain being a beloved children’s TV show personality, he’s a video game creator who the kids look up to. It’s a smart update for a generation more tapped into the gaming world.

At first glance, the movie’s basic outline matches the original Spy Kids almost beat for beat. But for each moment that feels like a direct copy, there’s another with enough of a twist or subversion to keep the plot fresh. The filmmakers’ conscious homages can be seen in the curveballs. The filmmakers’ clear knowledge of Spy Kids and their willingness to move beyond the limits it requires Armageddon past uninspired-remake territory and turns it into a deliberate series of nods to the original movie’s special moments.

You can use the following methods Armageddon Leans made on the first film make the most jarring difference between the two more obvious: The new cast is not up to par. Zachary Levi and Gina Rodriguez make for decent spy parents to spy kids, but they don’t have nearly as much suave charm as Banderas and Gugino, who, as actors, ooze “We were actually secret spies in another life.” Billy Magnussen can pull off the role of a cocky game developer, but he’s nowhere near as engaging as Alan Cumming’s playfully unhinged villain turned ally Fegan Floop. The supporting cast also never rises to the heights of Danny Trejo, Tony Shalhoub, and Teri Hatcher in the original — they all blend together into a bland background blob.

Spy Kids is a franchise that’s primarily about kids and not adults. This is true. Armageddon Does hold up. It helps that the new characters, who are younger than Carmen or Juni in the original film, have their own dynamics and directions. A lot of Carmen and Juni’s relationship is built on tension, with Carmen outright bullying Juni. But Patty and Tony have a different conflict: Patty’s a rule-follower who would rather be honest and kind than sneaky, while Tony is mischievous and doesn’t mind playing a little dirty. They both have different personalities, which helps them become spies.

Image: Netflix

As for the spy antics, they’re as fun as ever. It’s still exciting to see the kids in high-stakes car chases, messing around with funky gadgets, and entering a video game to save the world. Rodriguez continues to use dynamic sets with a funky 2000s feel. (There’s an excuse for it built into the movie.) The action isn’t as bright and colorful as it is in the older movies, but there’s still a homebrewed charm and big imagination to the villain’s kooky hideout and the family’s safehouse, and it’s all emblematic of Spy Kids Energy and its zany aesthetic.

This new Spy Kids is a completely different game. The original has a strong thematic emphasis. In the original, it was about the family core repairing their relationship. Carmen and Juni begin as rival siblings. But as Juni gains confidence, and Carmen develops a deeper understanding of her, the two form a close relationship. Parents and children learn to work together. They eventually come together to form a family. This culminates in a reunion after Uncle Machete smashes through a glass window.

You can also find out more about the following: Armageddon, however, the theme shifts outward, with a lesson that’s not just about how one family gets along, but how the secret agents dole out punishments for the big baddies, and how they may be perpetuating the cycle of villainy. Sometimes kid-tailored movies struggle with the implications of more grown-up conflicts, especially when the story’s central villain does actually have a point, but the kid heroes still have to beat them anyway. (The first Enola HolmesYou can also find out more about the following: Secret Society of Second-Born Royals Come to mind.

Rodriguez has mastered the art of incorporating larger themes in these films. The original Spy KidsThe film deals with issues of self-confidence and secret. The world of Spy Kids has grown with each new film. Armageddon Comes in with an imposing message that focuses on rehabilitation rather than punishment or incarceration in order to encourage people to improve. Come for the fun gadgets and the kids saving the world, and stay for a message about recovery and kindness, delivered so earnestly that it isn’t saccharine at all.

Spy Kids ArmageddonNetflix has now added the new Netflix Original.