Since making his feature debut 10 years ago with the do-it-yourself masterpiece "El Mariachi," Robert Rodriguez has become a mild-mannered, self-effacing darling of Hollywood, an action director whose dexterity in camerawork, editing and even composing music is equaled by his innate sense of what appeals to young viewers.
His prodigious talents hit their apotheosis in the "Spy Kids" movies, in which Rodriguez took the idea of the typical American nuclear family into the 21st century. The heroes of this franchise are Ingrid and Gregorio Cortez (Carla Gugino and Antonio Banderas) and their kids, Carmen and Juni (Alexa Vega, Daryl Sabara), a family of Latino lineage that works out its squabbles and growing pains while saving the world with cool gadgets, vehicles and, more often than not, imagination.
Sylvester Stallone, as the Toymaster, looms over his victims in "Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over."
(Dimension Films)
|
|
"Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over" is the final installment in the "Spy Kids" trilogy, and while it bears the irrepressible inventiveness and verve that characterize all of Rodriguez's films, it differs from its predecessors in some important -- and occasionally unfortunate -- ways. The world of "Game Over" isn't the high-tech yet cozy Cortez house but the cold environs of a sharp-edged virtual world. Ingrid and Gregorio barely appear (although Banderas makes sure to make a comic impression with his brief screen time), ceding the stage to Juni and his beloved grandfather (Ricardo Montalban). "Game Over" takes its characters -- and audiences -- on the same adventurous rides as previous "Spy Kids" movies, but many viewers will miss the warmth and boisterous family dynamics of its predecessors.
In fact, the best thing about "Game Over" isn't what's on the screen, but what's on the audience: those nerdy blue and red 3-D glasses most familiar to 1950s movie buffs. Delivering a nifty tweak to the ever-escalating digital race in Hollywood, Rodriguez has gone back to film's analog roots, creating an old-fashioned novelty movie in the tradition of Saturday matinee classics like "House of Wax."
"Game Over" starts twice, once with a witty introductory 3-D primer delivered by Alan Cumming as Fegan Floop, the villain of the first "Spy Kids," and then with a funny, noirish voiceover by Juni, who explains that he's been "burned" by his agency -- the OSS, which employs the Cortez family -- and has become a private gumshoe -- which, from the looks of the pink stuff he's picked up on his foot, is literal. Although it's not entirely clear why Juni is so mad at the OSS, he's forced to overcome his bitterness when he discovers that Carmen has been taken prisoner by a villain called the Toymaker (Sylvester Stallone), who has invented a video game that is so seductive that, once kids are into it, parents won't be able to get their attention. (Note to the good people of Nintendo: The Toymaker is a fictional character. No resemblance to an actual person, living or dead, is intended.)
Carmen has been trapped on the fourth level of the Toymaker's game and Juni has to jump into its virtual world, win all four levels and shut off the fifth before the game goes on sale. On the way, he enlists the help of his grandfather -- who regains the use of his legs once the game is afoot -- as well as some snarky beta testers who may or may not be on his side.
Rodriguez's natural abilities make "Game Over" almost compulsively watchable -- once again, he's a jack of all trades on his own movie, here serving as director, writer, editor, producer and composer -- and he injects characteristic moments of wit throughout the movie.
Stallone, whose mouth seems to be composed of more than 12 moving parts, is particularly amusing as the petulant, insecure Toymaker, as well as the villain's alter egos: a power-hungry Teuton, a vengeful computer nerd and a New Age guru.
The 3-D technology is fun enough, but a side effect is that it renders the palette of "Game Over" to monochrome grays and acid yellows; the molten lava the kids surf on seems to be exactly the same color as the goop in the light-saber-grabber-electric-cattle-prod-thingies they fight with.
In a climactic valedictory, Rodriguez assembles several past "Spy Kids" cast members, including Mike Judge, Cheech Marin, Danny Trejo, Holland Taylor, Bill Paxton and Steve Buscemi (Salma Hayek, George Clooney and Elijah Wood are on hand for cameos as well). Together they pitch the ultimate battle -- and learn a lesson about the power of forgiveness -- on Congress Avenue, the main artery of Austin, where Rodriguez lives and makes his movies. No matter how far he ventures into virtual territory, it's clear that the filmmaker's heart will always be where his home is -- an ethos to which the "Spy Kids" trilogy stands as lively and loving testament.
Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (85 minutes, at area theaters) is rated PG for action sequences and peril.
