Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams Reviews
Top CriticRodriguez seems to be trying too hard to cram in too much - more gadgets, more characters, more noise, more color. But bigger, brighter and faster isn't necessarily better.
Rodriguez seems to have forgotten that making a spectacle is not the same thing as creating a sense of wonder.
I didn't like the first one enough to recommend it. I liked this one even less.
Given the appeal of his first movie, Rodriguez had a big act to follow. Spy Kids ' progeny, though slightly lacking in the warmth of the first, should no doubt please audiences.
With Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams, the Spy Kids franchise establishes itself as a durable part of the movie landscape: a James Bond series for kids.
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| Original Score: 3/4
You don't have to be a child to enjoy Spy Kids 2, but it certainly helps.
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| Original Score: 3/4
There's enough here to keep the sequel rocking, providing you can leave the adult in you at the door.
| Original Score: B
Director Robert Rodriguez has once again caught lightning in a bottle.
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| Original Score: 3/4
Manages to be wholesome and subversive at the same time.
The continued good chemistry between Carmen and Juni is what keeps this slightly disappointing sequel going, with enough amusing banter -- blessedly curse-free -- to keep both kids and parents entertained.
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| Original Score: 3/5
For Spy Kids 2 the seams are well-hidden and a more relaxed Rodriguez is inside working his feng-shui mojo, rearranging rooms to widen the flow of inspiration. The result is a truly daft but wholly organic world fueled by free association.
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| Original Score: 4/4
Lacks the inspiration of the original and has a bloated plot that stretches the running time about 10 minutes past a child's interest and an adult's patience. But it also has many of the things that made the first one charming.
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| Original Score: 2/4
Robert Rodriguez follows up his 2001 smash with another comic fantasy that'll please adults as much as kids.
With Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams, however, Robert Rodriguez adorns his family-film plot with an elegance and maturity that even most contemporary adult movies are lacking.
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| Original Score: 3.5/4
To the delight of gadgetheads and the dismay of the rest of us, Spy Kids' paraphernalia is better developed and considerably more fun than its story.
| Original Score: 2/4
Though it's competently made, Spy Kids 2 is a classic example of the too hasty sequel, a movie with few ideas and no heart.
| Original Score: 2/5
The imagery snaps and pops with such jumpy, carefree energy that the movie seems to be making itself up as it goes along.
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| Original Score: 3.5/4
[Spy Kids 2] is both overblown and overlong compared to the original -- but happily has enough heart and smarts to recommend it as one of the season's worthier family entertainments.
| Original Score: 3/4
Leaves you wishing Rodriguez had saved some of his ideas for another movie. There's a difference between fast-paced and chaotic, and Spy Kids 2 often blurs the line between the two.
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| Original Score: 2.5/4
Spy Kids 2 also happens to be that rarity among sequels: It actually improves upon the original hit movie.
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| Original Score: 3.5/4
A fantastical fun house of a film, one that freely, joyfully, considerately expands upon themes set forth in last summer's sleeper family audience hit.
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| Original Score: 4/4
If you saw last summer's Spy Kids, then Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams will surely be on your agenda. If you didn't, and you see the sequel, you can safely add to that agenda a trip to the video store for the original.
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| Original Score: 3/4
It's refreshing to see a kids' action movie in which the most crucial 'special effect' is a rubber band.
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| Original Score: 3/4
The sequel is more adult than its predecessor, but just as gadget-packed and action-filled.
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| Original Score: 3.5/4
The movie is a gaudy, noisy thrill ride -- hyperactive, slightly out of control and full of kinetic, mischievous charm.
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| Original Score: 4/5
Though Spy Kids 2 has a touch of sequel-itis, it is still imaginative, smart and stands on its own.
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| Original Score: 3.5/5
Spy Kids 2 is loose and lively and appeals to the kid in all of us.
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| Original Score: A
The film is bigger, louder, flashier, but gone are the elements -- such as innocent charm -- that made the original so much fun.
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| Original Score: C
The sequel is everything the original was not: contrived, overblown and tie-in ready.
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| Original Score: C-
The poised Vega and pleasingly phlegmatic Sabara are resolutely uncute performers, and the reach-out-and-touch-it gadgetry carries a homey scent of proactive nostalgia.
The byplay and bickering between the now spy-savvy siblings, Carmen (Vega) and Juni (Sabara) Cortez, anchor the film in a very real and amusing give-and-take.
A sequel that's much too big for its britches.
The antics are a tad more frantic, and the gizmos work overtime, as if ... Robert Rodriguez felt the hot breath of el diablo on his neck. On the other hand, the inventiveness is still superior and the network of fiends and family is extended.
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| Original Score: B
