Robert Rodriguez, director of the blood-soaked action movies "Desperado" and "From Dusk Till Dawn", struck gold with his wildly inventive and creative "Spy Kids" in 2001. In 2002, "Spy Kids 2" was released, a worthy sequel, and now we arrive at "Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over".
I've never been much a fan of 3-D, but when it is done well (like at the Disney theme parks) I am quick to applaud. Not here; Rodriguez has gone back to the Stone Age of cinema and utilizes the red-and-blue 3-D glasses from the 1950's. As you can imagine, this doesn't work too well.
Still, there is much fun to be had in the third and final installment of this super-cool franchise. The kid actors perform well, although for many of them this is their first movie. Ricardo Montalban returns in a greatly-expanded role as the grandfather, and through the use of CGI, Montalban (who is restricted to a wheelchair in both the movie and in life) gets to "walk" again (I will not spoil how). I also liked Sylvester Stallone as the Toymaker, the bad guy who, after spending a long time in cyberspace, has literally developed multiple personalities. Stallone is clearly having the time of his life as he hams it up as the wacky and colorful villain. Elijah Wood has a quick cameo, as do most of the adult cast members from the last two movies in the film's finale.
The special effects are impressive, but they are once again hampered by the 3-D (thankfully, there is a 2-D version on the DVD).
In short, while the 3-D didn't work for me, I still had a good time at this otherwise excellent family movie. 7/10
I've never been much a fan of 3-D, but when it is done well (like at the Disney theme parks) I am quick to applaud. Not here; Rodriguez has gone back to the Stone Age of cinema and utilizes the red-and-blue 3-D glasses from the 1950's. As you can imagine, this doesn't work too well.
Still, there is much fun to be had in the third and final installment of this super-cool franchise. The kid actors perform well, although for many of them this is their first movie. Ricardo Montalban returns in a greatly-expanded role as the grandfather, and through the use of CGI, Montalban (who is restricted to a wheelchair in both the movie and in life) gets to "walk" again (I will not spoil how). I also liked Sylvester Stallone as the Toymaker, the bad guy who, after spending a long time in cyberspace, has literally developed multiple personalities. Stallone is clearly having the time of his life as he hams it up as the wacky and colorful villain. Elijah Wood has a quick cameo, as do most of the adult cast members from the last two movies in the film's finale.
The special effects are impressive, but they are once again hampered by the 3-D (thankfully, there is a 2-D version on the DVD).
In short, while the 3-D didn't work for me, I still had a good time at this otherwise excellent family movie. 7/10