I’ve just watched the whole Spy Kids trilogy, and since I hadn’t watched this, the first, in so long, it really put the whole thing into fairly shocking perspective. I’ve now joined the quite prevelant ranks of those who say this is the best in the series, after spending a year thinking that the final part was by far the best.

This first part is somehow more integral. It focuses more on the adults, maybe that’s it. It tells the initial story of the two rival spies in love which is the most original core concept that the series has. And the story is told beautifully, with all of Robert Rodriguez’s visual cylinders firing.

Rodriguez did less on this movie than most of his subsequent films (or files, or flicks), and it was also his last movie shot on film before switching to digital. I can’t help but think that one or both of these factors are why I consider this the better installment. There’s something else to Spy Kids that isn’t present in either of its sequels or Once Upon a Time in Mexico. I’m sure hoping that what ever that thing is hasn’t lapsed forever from my favourite director-who-never-made-a-great-movie, and I hope his next, Sin City shows him exercising this old-style passion.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 27th, 2004 at 1:59 am in Movie Reviews, unrated. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.