Title: Spy Kids: All the Time in the World in 4D Movie Review
Director: Robert Rodriguez
Starring: Jessica Alba, Joel McHale, Jeremy Piven, Rowan Blanchard, Mason Cook, Alexa Vega, Daryl Sabara, Ricky Gervais (voice)
What is 4D? A marketing ploy that smells fishy (amongst other things).
Spy Kids: All the Time in the World is the 4th installment in the franchise that debuted ten years ago, spawning annual sequels. For whatever reason, writer/director Robert Rodriguez decided to chill for eighty years before unleashing the next chapter. Guess he was just waiting for that important “4th dimension” technology to catch up with 3D.
The 4D is nothing more than a scratch-n-sniff index card with eight numbers. As you’re watching the film, a number will blink on the screen, signaling audiences to rub the number and you should be able to smell something that is happening on the screen. For instance, if a baby farts and the number “3” starts flashing, one should be able to smell a baby’s ass.
Either way, it’s not worth it. No matter what smell you’re supposed to inhale, the eight unique scents all smell like a children’s Halloween bag full of candy. There is nothing distinct about the “4D” so don’t get all excited about it.
What you can get excited for is the clever gadgets and landscapes this fundamental fam-friendly story is placed in. Hey, even the 3D might be worth it. The atmospheres that the spy kids (Rowan Blanchard & Mason Cook) whisk around in are detailed and arguably the most engaging and charismatic attraction in this flick. Well, Rick Gervais sarcastically voicing a dog is to the older crowd’s benefit, but for the most part, everyone will enjoy the settings that look good with or without 3D glasses. This isn’t an animation, but the human element is placed in a room full of green-screens; so a lot of the backgrounds are computer-generated.
This action and cinematography will put the audience in a virtual video-game. And this was a wise choice, for it will numb the pain of hearing the dialogue and the plot. Speaking of the plot, this is easy for the younger crowd to follow, but the climatic moment may lose them just a bit. Hell, even yours truly had to turn the brain back on for a few minutes.
If you haven’t seen the other Spy Kids’ entries, the pattern is just like the Batman television show from the 1960s. Especially with this one, since the bad guys are all uniformed people wearing cheesy masks and led by an over-the-top personality with a specific theme. In this case, clocks. And don’t worry about a continuous story-line from the previous flicks; you can walk into this one cold.
Although there’s a few actors out-of-place here, Joel McHale as the clueless, loving father and Jeremy Piven taking on multiple roles are the ones who find the right tone. The kids are alright, but they really aren’t amusing enough to carry this on their own as we saw in the other installments. The nostalgia factors ushers in a couple of returning cast members and it follows the typical pattern of giving birth to another generation to carry the franchise forward (not saying if that’s a good idea or not).
Overall, Spy Kids: All the Time in the World is a pleasure to look at and it has the creative juices flowing from a visual perspective. Yeah, the script is not nearly intelligent as the technical weapons (in front & behind the camera), but then again, look who it’s geared towards. Its a show-n-go piece; nothing more, nothing less. Outside of that, the older crowd will be more concerned with trying to figure out why their scratch-n-sniff card is busted. It is what it is kids.
Technical: B+
Story: C+
Acting: C+
Overall: C+
Review by Joe Belcastro
