Robert Rodriguez Month - Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams (2002)

         Hey guys, Chuck here, and we're back with another Spy Kids movie as part of Robert Rodriguez Month. And, about a year after the release of the original Spy Kids, Robert Rodriguez came back with the second chapter, which promised to go bigger than the first one. Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams would see the returns of most of the cast of the original Spy Kids, including Antonio Banderas, Carla Gugino, Alexa Vega, Daryl Sabara, Cheech Marin, Danny Trejo, Alan Cumming, Tony Shaloub, and Mike Judge, with newcomers including Matt O'Leary, Emily Osment, Christopher McDonald, Taylor Momsen, Holland Taylor, Steve Buscemi, and Ricardo Montalban, with a minor appearance by Bill Paxton. 

        So, in the year since the events of the first Spy Kids, the OSS (Organization of Super Spies) has now opened an entire division of child agents. Known as the Spy Kids division, this new OSS branch has various agents, including Carmen and Juni Cortez, who are in something of a rivalry with Gary and Gerti Giggles, who are the children of Donnagon Giggles. Carmen and Gary kinda have a slight attraction to each other, but Gary and Juni are tense rivals straight up. Gerti, however, is kinda okay with Carmen and Juni, but not really. 

        Now, the movie opens with Carmen and Juni, as well as Gary and Gerti, on assignment with the U.S. Secret Service, who are at the Troublemaker Studios Theme Park keeping watch on Alexandra, who is the daughter of President Neil Anami. When the park's owner, Dinky Winks, shows Alexandra around the park, she shows little excitement for rides like "The Whippersnapper," "The Nerve-wracker," and "The Vomiter," but gets super excited for the newest ride "The Juggler," where riders are strapped into a bubble, lifted into the air, and juggled. However, Alexandra nabs the ride keys, causing a malfunction, and she scales to a certain spot on the ride. Unfortunately, the Secret Service men are too big to scale the ride to save her, so the call in Carmen and Juni, with Gary and Gerti as backup, to rescue her, as well as a high-tech gadget called the Transmooker device. The rescue is successful, and Alexandra is taken back to Washington. 

      Back at the Cortez house, Ingrid and Carmen are getting themselves ready for a gala OSS event, as are Gregorio and Juni. And, we see Ingrid and Carmen discuss the limits of the Spy Kids program, where even Level 2 agents like Carmen and Juni need additional experience before handling solo missions like the Ukata Assignment. The gala event, which includes OSS operatives from around the world, including those in the Spy Kids program, is being held for President Anami to name a new OSS director. Now, the teleprompter initially starts off with naming Gregorio as the new OSS director, but after a teleprompter glitch, Donnagon is named OSS director, and he awards Gary and Gerti Level 1 status, which would allow them to take on the Ukata Assignment. 

       Unfortunately, all of the adults have been drugged with sleepers, and the wait staff, known as Magna Men, steal the Transmooker, which we see has the power to disable any electronic within range. The Spy Kids all put up a valiant effort, but Gary and Juni get into a fight, and the Magna Men get away with the Transmooker. Juni is blamed for the theft, and is temporarily disavowed from OSS duty. However, Carmen brings Juni along to their treehouse, which is a high-tech spy base for the two of them, to listen in on Donnagon, Gary, and Gerti. Using Juni's robot aide R.A.L.P.H. to listen in, Carmen and Juni learn the nature of the Ukata Assignment: a mysterious island off the coast of Madagascar, where many spy craft has gone missing, and agents reporting of strange creatures roaming the island. However, as no reported landmass is in the area, the stories were dismissed and the agents were fired. However, the ship carrying the Magna Men who stole the Transmooker were last seen in the vicinity of said island. So, the Ukata Assignment is to send two small Agents to go in and investigate. Carmen and Juni, who gets his status reinstated, reassign themselves to the Ukata Assignment, and set up a new assignment for Gary and Gerti, sending them to the Gobi Desert. Machete then arrives, with a box full of new gadgets, including a new spy watch which does everything except tell time. Yeah, they put som much into it, there wasn't any more room for the clock. However, the best gadget he has for them is what he calls the "Machete Elastic Wonder." Yeah, it pretty much a rubber band, but has 999 uses, all of which Carmen and Juni have to figure out with their minds. 

        Now geared up, Carmen and Juni head to the OSS dock, where they, along with Gary and Gerti, are given access to their DragonSpy subs, with Felix sending both duos off and wishing them luck. Carmen and Juni, en route to the Ukata island, decide to put in a call for some information. The call goes to Floop, who take the phone to Minion, who reveals that Donnagon has ties to the Transmooker device, and may be dirty. Minion advises Carmen and Juni to find the "island man," who would have been Donnagon's contact.  Unfortunately, as they approach their destination, the power shuts off, and Carmen and Juni are forced to evacuate their sub. Gary and Gerti, meanwhile, arrive in the Gobi Desert, fall in a pile of camel dookie, and realize that Carmen and Juni have redirected them. Whoops. Back at OSS headquarters, Donnagon goes to meet with Gregorio and Ingrid, offering to rescue Carmen and Juni personally, but they decline the offer, feeling the need to do so themselves. Also, Donnagon reveals to Ingrid that her parents, Helga and Valentin Avellan, have arrived. Now, as much as they insist on coming along to help, Ingrid and Gregorio tell Helga and Valentin that everything is fine, and they'll be back. 

        Carmen and Juni, meanwhile, arrive at the island, and try to set up camp, but find their gadgets are all disabled. So, the two hike all the way up to the mouth of a volcano, fall in, and find themselves floating above a mock-up of the island. It's here where Carmen and Juni meet the "island man," a scientist named Romero. Romero, it turns out, is a genetic specialist, who wanted to make a fortune on selling miniature zoos to kids. One day, he starts splicing genes, creating unique creatures. Such creatures include the following: horsefly (a horse with a fly's head and wings), catfish (a cat with a goldfish head), spidermonkey (a monkey from the torso up, with the lower body like a spider), sheepdog (a sheep with a dog head), bullfrog (a frog with a bull head), spork (a pig with bird wings), and a dangerous creature called a slizard (a mix of a lizard and a snake). Romero also reveals that there's a cloaking device surrounding the island, which shuts off any electronic device in its range, and hides the island from satellite and radar. Carmen and Juni realize that the version of the Transmooker that the President had was a prototype, and the real Transmooker was on the island the whole time. 

         Donnagon, meanwhile, makes his way to the island, as do Gregorio and Ingrid, who are joined by Helga and Valentin, who are there because the situation is much bigger than simply saving the world, as Carmen and Juni's lives are at stake should Gregorio and Ingrid fail. Carmen and Juni, meanwhile, manage to rescue Gary and Gerti, but learn that Donnagon is on the way. Gary and Gerti head off to find the Transmooker, prompting Carmen and Juni to go after it first. After a journey into some underground ruins, where Carmen and Juni can only communicate via telepathy, Carmen is caught by a Spork and dropped into its nest, where Gerti is, and Juni goes to the Temple of the Transmooker, where he befriends a spidermonkey. Unfortunately, Gary arrives on the back of a slizard, and a battle breaks out between the two. Carmen finally picks a side, and stands in support of her brother, with Gerti remarking to Gary "you pick a fight with a girl, you're gonna lose." 

        Carmen and Juni reach the Transmooker, but are joined by Donnagon, Gary, Gerti, Romero, and the Magna Men. Carmen and Juni, using the Machete Elastic Wonder, disable the Transmooker, and Carmen tosses it to a Spork flying by. The party then heads to the nest, and Carmen realizes that the gadgets work now, and reach the nest first. Heading back to the beach, Carmen and Juni activate their camp gadgets, and are found by their family, with Juni happy to see his grandfather. Donnagon and the others arrive, Felix picks up the Transmooker, and Gerti modifies it. However, Gregorio and Donnagon get into a fight, and seeing how badly a fight between Antonio Banderas and Mike Judge ends up going is pretty funny. But, just before Donnagon can use the Transmooker to destroy the Cortezes, it malfunctions. Gerti sabotaged it, and threatens to tell her and Gary's mother what Donnagon had been up to. And, I laughed my ass off when Donnagon got on his knees and begged Gerti not to tell her mother. Seeing how terrified Donnagon was of his own wife is hysterical. Also, seeing Gregorio finally getting the approval of Valentin and Helga is very nice. 

       But, President Anami, Alexandra, and the Secret Service arrive, and Alexandra, acting on her father's behalf, temporarily disavows Gary, fires Donnagon, named Gregorio as director of the OSS, and offers Juni Level 1 status. However, Juni declines, opting to leave the OSS behind. The movie ends with the Cortezes going home. During the credits, Carmen and Juni are set to perform at a concert, and are gifted devices from Machete to help them. Carmen gets a headset programmed with auto tune, as well as a dance belt, while Juni gets a self-playing electric guitar. However, after their performance, Machete reveals that he never put batteries in the devices, meaning Carmen and Juni have actual music skills. In a post-credits scene, Dinky Winks arrives at Romero's island, offering to set up a destination resort theme park on the island. 

        Spy Kids 2 definitely goes bigger than the first movie. The movie very much has a story akin to The Mysterious Island, with creature effects inspired by the works of Ray Harryhausen, especially in a sequence involving sword fighting skeletons. And, the bizarre creatures that inhabit the island are unique in a way that, much like the Thumb-Thumbs and the Fooglies in the first movie, feel like something that can only exist in the world of Spy Kids. 

        The performances, once again, are fantastic. While both Antonio Banderas and Carla Gugino are excellent as Gregorio and Ingrid, they kinda take more of a backseat to Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara as Carmen and Juni, who really stand out in this movie. Both Cheech Marin and Danny Trejo as Felix and Machete are great for their handful of minutes on screen. But, as far as the Cortez family goes, the two I enjoyed most were Holland Taylor as Helga and Ricardo Montalban as Valentin. I mean, for crying out loud, Robert Rodriguez got Khan Noonien Singh from Star Trek to be Carmen and Juni's grandfather. That's awesome. And, apparently, it was Daryl Sabara's idea to introduce spy grandparents in this movie. Nice. 

        On the other side of casting, Mike Judge as Donnagon gets a lot more screen time this go around. And seeing the actual creator of Beavis and Butt-Head as the villain of a Spy Kids movie is pretty funny. Both Matt O'Leary and Emily Osment were decent as Gary and Gerti. But, I thoroughly enjoyed Steve Buscemi as Romero. He really gives off the crazed scientist vibe really well. And, let's be clear, Steve Buscemi can convey crazy to a tee. And, I liked how we got brief appearances from Alan Cumming and Tony Shaloub as Floop and Minion, who helps out with information for Carmen and Juni. And, both Christopher McDonald and Taylor Momsen as President Anami and Alexandra were really good. And, something to remember is that this movie came just after Taylor's performance as Cindy Lou in The Grinch with Jim Carrey. 

          Honestly, if the first Spy Kids was Robert Rodriguez's first foray into family filmmaking, then this one is proof that he's a fantastic director in terms of making movies for multiple age demographics. But, unfortunately, there's a bit more juvenile humor in this movie compared to the original. I, once again, bring up the scene where Gary and Gerti fall into a pile of camel dookie. So, I'm giving Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams a rating of 4.65/5. 

        Well guys, this is Chuck signing off, and I'll be back tomorrow with the most insane chapter of the Spy Kids franchise with Spy Kids 3D: Game Over, as we continue Robert Rodriguez Month.