Spy Kids: All the Time in the World (2011)

Let me take you through the timeline of the Spy Kids films. In 2001, Robert Rodriguez made Spy Kids, a movie that was supposed to be much worse than it actually was. Then, a year later, in 2002, Rodriguez made the sequel to the surprise hit, Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams, which was still good, despite not being great. Then, in 2003, there was the movie where Rodriguez went completely all-out with the insanity for Spy Kids 3D: Game Over, a movie I actually went to go see in the theaters. While I am still a fan of the film, I like it in an insane and turn-your-brain-off kind of way. I mean, for God’s sake, it takes place inside of a video game! But, either way, the series was brought back to life a few months ago with Spy Kids: All the Time in the World, a movie that looks like it was a lot more fun to make than it was to see. Honestly, I wish I hadn’t seen this film on DVD, I wish I had seen it in theaters, because I really wanted to rant about the Smell-O-Vision they used for the film, which sadly was not brought along with renting the film for $4 on iTunes. But now I just get to rant on the fallen quality of the actual film. Trying out a brand new team, only bringing back the good team for small cameos for the film, this film stars Joel McHale (from the falling and absolutely perfect show Community), Jessica Alba (from nothing good), and Rowan Blanchard and Mason Cook as the new kids, and Ricky Gervais as the voice of the robot dog (the only good jokes in the film). Alba plays a mom spy, the kids are her step-kids, McHale is the kid’s father and a spy-hunter, and they have to defeat a villain named Tick-Tock, who throws out literally every single bad time pun in the book, and believe me, there are a lot. The film has the same look and feel of the third installment, but without the silly fun of it. The jokes (except for those by Gervais) are fart jokes after vomit joke after poop joke, the action is low-budget, bad, and of poor quality, and the acting is completely atrocious. What is Joel McHale doing in this movie? He is such a funny guy, Community is one of the single best shows out there, it is so funny, it is on the same pace with Arrested Development and Spaced, but this is on the same line of all the other useless kid’s films out there, that are just studio hash after studio hash. The creativity of this series is completely gone, and it just is now a formulaic and boring film.
3.5/10