This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movie being covered here wouldn’t exist.
I grew up watching the original three Spy Kids movies myriad times. I thought they were the coolest movies because I related to them. I just recently re-watched them again and the animation and CGI may not hold up, but the memories were brought back. Going into this movie, I was expecting it to be targeted for the younger audience, so I wasn’t expecting any nostalgia hits.
Spy Kids: Armageddon is the fifth installment of the Spy Kids franchise and once again directed by Robert Rodriguez. This time, Rey “The King” Kingston, played by Billy Magnussen, tries to take over the world by creating a video game and infecting a virus into all technology. In order to use technology, one had to complete levels from the video game. Tony and Nora Torrez are the kids that have to try and stop him from taking control of all technology in the world.
This did not feel anywhere near a Spy Kids movie. I am not sure if it was the intention, but it felt like it was just another kids’ movie that they are somehow better at everything that their parents do. In previous movies, both the kids and parents kick butt. In this one, they made the parents seem like they didn’t know anything. They had several callbacks to the previous movies as well which I didn’t mind but it just isn’t the same.
The entire premise of the movie was not great. It was basically the kids trying to inform people to not lie and that honesty and “being good” is what makes the best spy. I totally get the message that they are trying to tell, and I agree but actually the entire point of being a spy is deception. I feel like they could have told this story differently like they did in the previous movies without having to change the meaning of a spy.
Spy Kids: Armageddon was clearly a reboot of a combination of the older ones. There was an entire sequence where it is almost a frame for frame shot of the first film and the whole video game aspect is stripped from the third.
Final Thoughts
Maybe I am just a hater and stuck with the nostalgia of the adventure of Carmen and Juni Cortez in the first films, but this movie lacks effort to stay original and create new stories. If Robert Rodriguez is creating a new world with new people, then fine. But if you are trying to watch this movie for the nostalgic hits, it isn’t worth it. Keep it for the kids.
