Spy Kids (2001)

The children's thriller Spy Kids is just a glorified gizmo movie, but, as directed by the semigrown up Robert Rodriguez, the gizmos have a loopy, babes in toyland vivacity. The story, about a brother and sister (Daryl Sabara and Alexa Vega) who become entwined in the surreal Bondian adventure of their secret agent parents (Antonio Banderas and Carla Gugino), is so flip and bland and airy it's practically frictionless. Yet Rodriguez layers on the Playskool special effects goodies. There are robots with giant thumbs for heads and limbs, a villain's castle that suggests a Gaudí version of Captain Nemo's summer beach house, and mutants who look as if their flesh had been molded out of Silly Putty.

''Spy Kids'' is frequently as gee whiz clunky as any kiddie film spun off from a franchise. That said, you can feel the delight Rodriguez took in staging this one. Banderas and Gugino make a winning pair of domesticated dream parents, but it's Alan Cumming who takes over the movie as the impish mastermind Fegan Floop. Cumming, whose dimples are practically an extra facial feature, is like the world's naughtiest elf, with the rare gift of acting innocent and demonic, joyous and petulant, all at the same time. If the remake of ''Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory'' ever gets off the ground, Rodriguez could be an inspired choice to direct it, and Cumming may well have been put on earth to reinhabit the famous candyman.

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