Fred�s No
Clue Movie Review
"Spy
Kids 3-D: Game Over"
Directed by Robert Rodriguez
This is the third
and final film in the Spy Kids series. The films follow the exploits of
pint size spys whose entire family works for the OSS. In this film, Carmen,
played by Alexa Vega, and Juni, played by Daryl Sabara, are thrown into a
virtual reality video game called Game Over. The game has been created by the
Toymaker, played by Sylvester Stallone, and its mission is to enslave the
world�s youth by taking over their minds at the end of the game.
This is definitely not a great movie. It does play as a nice family film and I�m
assuming that�s why it�s doing so well at the box office. The roles of the
parents, played by Antonio Banderas and Carla Gugino, have been greatly reduced
in this movie. You don�t really miss them that much, if you�re already a fan of
the franchise. This movie is about the kids. Actually, Rodriguez has made Juni
the central figure in this film. In the beginning, he�s almost like a Desperado
character. He has left the OSS and become a private eye. The plot of the movie
is extremely thin and without all the effects wouldn�t hold up at all. Many of
the effects are extremely cheesy and aren�t up to today�s standards of special
effects.
All that said, here�s the good things about Spy Kids 3-D. First of all,
it�s in 3-D. That is fun in itself. Yes, the effects are very cheesy, right down
to the large signs in the movie, alerting you to take your glasses on and off.
The effects although cheesy, are extremely inventive. Literally, I haven�t seen
anything like these Spy Kids films. The characters are just imaginative.
I read that Rodriguez did the effects at his own studio in Austin, Texas, called
Troublemaker Studios. He also shot on the same HD 3-D rig created by James
Cameron for Ghosts of the Abyss.
Stallone is hilarious
and makes fun of many of his own personas in the film. Ricardo Montalban gets an
expanded role in this film as the grandfather. He�s a lot of fun to watch. The
other kid actors did a fine job, considering more than half of this film had to
have been shot on a green screen. Rodriguez manages to bring back just about
every character that has been seen in the previous films and these are some fun
cameo appearances.
I can�t recommend this movie as a good movie. But if you like 3-D, it�s a good
3-D movie. There are virtually non-stop 3-D gimmicks throughout the movie. I say
EMBRACE THE CHEESE of the movie and go see it. You�ll have fun.
Now, a quick personal
note. Robert Rodriguez is one of my indie heroes. He is attempting to position
his career similar to George Lucas. He does a lot of the work on his own. He has
immense creative freedoms and has had it since the beginning. He made El
Mariachi from nothing and has been working steadily since. You can tell that
he loves technology and is really pushing the boundaries with the new digital
technologies. More over, it appears that he�s going to be able to maintain his
creative freedoms due to his ability to deliver films with virtually low budgets
and then be profitable. For example, Spy Kids 3-D has grossed over $80
million, but only cost about $50 million. That�s a pretty good return for the
studio and it keeps Rodriguez positioned to write, produce, direct, edit and
sometimes shoot, mix sound, create music, and special effects. It�s an amazing
accomplishment and I�m always interested to see what he does next. It�s a career
that any independent filmmaker would love to have. I highly recommend his book,
Rebel Without a Crew, which details the making of El Mariachi.
It�s very inspiring. So go see the movie, if only to support this very indie
spirited director.
For more information
visit
http://www.spykids.com
Got comments?
Suggestions? I�d love to hear them.
email me at
no.clue@indenation.com
come back soon, until then, i�ll be at the movies�