The franchise created by Robert Rodríguez is rebooted in this fifth film, presenting a new direction with some elements that are reminiscent of the previous films. Although the Spy Kids movies were always intended for a child audience, the truth is that as the franchise progressed, it became increasingly infantilized. This film could be considered more childish than the previous ones for several reasons. The plot is a crazy combination between the plot of the first film and the concept of the third. It becomes very fanciful with the concept of a video game taking control of the real world and turning to the virtual to adapt it to a time where gamers and virtual reality became part of our lives. There is a whole festival of CGI that makes it a visually striking and crazy film. The new characters are not at all on par with the characters from the previous films, they don't even manage to beat the Cortez family. The two little brothers fall short compared to Carmen and Juni, although at least they manage to have some sympathy. Patty is a girl with a truly irresistible tenderness and perhaps she is the best thing in the movie, but that changes when there comes a point where Patty feels too good and the movie ends up giving her too much relevance. Robert Rodríguez's children's films are few, but a special characteristic of them is that they have a moral. The Spy Kids franchise has always been characterized by having a message about the value of family. This fifth film has some of that, but breaks that important element when Patty proves too right about kindness and sincerity. This film has a moral that is based on the importance of sincerity. At times he does it well, at other times he does it as if it were something out of Steven Universe and makes both the movie and Patty lose credibility. Robert Rodríguez usually bases his children's films on the bond he has with his children and they are usually the source of all the fantasies projected in the films. But you can notice that in each film there is a different tone in how he narrates his childhood stories. The first three installments of Spy Kids could be taken a little more seriously and had a good balance of telling something that children and their parents could enjoy at the same time. Even The Adventures Of Sharkboy And Lavagirl also had that balance. But from Shorts to Spy Kids 4 and now this movie they lost that balance and became something that seems one hundred percent made by a child. This movie falls into that and becomes something that only kids can admire while parents probably won't view it the same way. Spy Kids: Armageddon is a somewhat poor reboot for the franchise that as a children's film may delight children, but not adults. My final rating for this movie is a 6/10.
Review of Spy Kids: Armageddon
