"You've Been Trained All Your Life To Be A Spy, Alex."I'm a fan of the Alex Rider novels, so I approached the DVD with some trepidation. I love the books. Can't wait for the next one. But the movie release never even came close to my city, which is the capital of the state. That concerned me.
Alex Rider is a 14-year-old spy that was trained by his Uncle Ian to be strong and independent. Perhaps not a spy. We never know for sure. But through the six books that have been published so far, we've gotten to know Alex quite well. He's not your average kid, but neither is he happy-go-lucky about being a spy. The movie depicts him, more or less, as that, though, and that's one of the parts where book fans will object.
What you see on the screen is very much a more light-hearted version of Alex Rider, bordering on slapstick comedy at times. Think of the original book series by author/creator Anthony Horowitz as Sean Connery's James Bond as opposed to Roger Moore's take on that character. Book Alex is more subdued,...
Great Kid FlickThis is a fun, "mission impossible" style adventure film for kids. The action scenes are realistic, not the cartoon-type stuff you see in the Spy Kid movies. My kids were glued to the screen because of the non-stop suspense. The opening scene is very intense and incredibly well done and I believe sets the tone for the entire movie. A refreshing note to parents--there is little to no objectionable material in this movie. I noticed no bad language, no smoking or drug use, and no sexual content or innuendo. I also thought Ewan Mc Gregor brought nice credibility to this film. This was a great kickin' it movie for kids and teens. Well done.
"Spy Kids" merges with James BondLook out 007! There's a new secret agent in town, and he's going to knock the socks off the girls who used to swoon over you (at least the teenaged ones.) In this action-packed teen adventure, unwilling secret agent Alex Rider (Alex Pettyfer) signs up with MI6 to spy on an eccentric eye-shadow wearing billionaire (Mickey Rourke) whose generous offer to equip all the schools in the UK with super-computers seems much too good to be true.
Alex has unknowingly been groomed to be an agent by his uncle (Ewan McGregor) and after all, there's no one better for the job than the man who was Obi Wan Kenobi. Soon, Alex is sent off to boot camp, prepped for his first mission and outfitted with an arsenal of cool gadgets and gizmos (but no real weaponry).
The stellar cast makes this movie seem a lot better than the plot indicates, with appearances by Bill Nighy as Alan Blunt of MI6; Sophie Okonedo as the Special Operations Division operative with the Bond-like name of Tulip...
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