Hellmant (16 May 2012)

I really wish I could enjoy Rodriguez's kids' movie ventures as well but I just can't!

'SPY KIDS: ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD': One Star (Out of Five)Robert Rodriguez's fourth film in his popular kids' movie franchise inwhich he performs his usual writing and directing duties as well asseveral other functions including producing, cinematography and music.I'm a big fan of Rodriguez, he's actually one of my favorite writersand directors, but I hate his kids' movies; I love all of his filmsexcept the ones he aims at children. I admire him fully embracing hisinner child, creativity and unchecked imagination but I just don'tthink it works with his kids' films. Sure they're entertaining andamusing to children but they offer them no other value and haveabsolutely nothing at all to offer adults (except a painstakinglyannoying film going experience). A good kids' movie should beentertaining to adults as well as children and Rodriguez's filmsdefinitely don't have that quality. As far as the 'SPY KIDS' films go(as well as his other kids movies) this one is by far the worst aswell. It was simply painful to watch and one of the most unpleasantfilm going experiences I've had all year!It's been eight years since the last 'SPY KIDS' film and stars (of thefirst three films) Antonio Banderas and Carla Gugino are nowhere to befound in this installment. Jessica Alba stars this time around asretired spy Marissa Cortez Wilson. She's married to a TV 'spy hunter'reporter named Wilbur (Joel McHale of TV's 'THE SOUP' and 'COMMUNITY'),who has no idea she's an actual spy. The two have a newborn babytogether but Wilbur's ten year old twins Rebecca (Rowan Blanchard) andCecil (Mason Cook) don't appreciate their new stepmother. All thatchanges when Marissa is called back into action to stop the evilvillain Timekeeper (Jeremy Piven) from taking over the world and thekids get involved in the action. The original 'Spy Kids' Carmen (AlexaVega) and Juni Cortez (Daryl Sabara), Marissa's niece and nephew,return to help the new 'Spy Kids' out. Ricky Gervais costars as thevoice of the family dog and is the film's one saving grace! The movie completely scrapes the bottom of the barrel clean! There'snot much lower Rodriguez could have gone in trying to appeal to thelaziest part of children's minds. One could argue that movies like thismake kid's dumber but I wouldn't go that far. If I had kids that wantedto watch this and just be entertained for 90 minutes I'd probably letthem but I certainly wouldn't want to watch it with them (unless Ihadn't already seen it I guess, because of the Rodriguez factor, butunder no other circumstances). A good kids' film should be one you canenjoy watching with your children and get something out of as well(like 'THE MUPPETS' from earlier this year, or the 'STAR WARS' films).I really wish I could enjoy Rodriguez's kids' movie ventures as wellbut I just can't. It's too bad he doesn't put that amazing talent tobetter use; I know there's a truly great family film in him, he justdoesn't know how to channel it yet.Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKd3ajZbngo

Badou_Boy (16 May 2012)

The worst film of 2011.

In a year full of films like "Transformers 3", "Video Girl","Colombiana" and "Abduction", choosing an official least favorite canbe pretty difficult, but that was before I watched Robert Rodriguez'sunfortunate atrocity known as "Spy Kids 4". Rodriguez was never a greatfilmmaker; his movies succeed on the basic levels of entertainment, buthe's never made a truly great film. By the way, I'm not a "Sin City"fan either. The previous "Spy Kids" movies were nothing special intheir own right, but I recall the first two being not bad, while the3rd one was more like "The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl";another Rodriguez atrocity. It's hard to say whether or not this filmis as bad, but it's certainly a piece of crap and I never want to sitthrough another "Spy Kids" film ever again. Does that mean Rodriguezwill stop making them? Of course not. Rodriguez has always been a sellout. He debuted with a strong piece of work called "El Mariachi", butthen he sold his soul to Hollywood by remaking the film into"Desperado", which had none of the charm or ingenuity of itspredecessor, and instead went for a more mainstream/blockbusterapproach. It wasn't bad, but it was definitely a disappointmentcompared to what came before it."Spy Kids 4" is simply awful. I felt extremely embarrassed whilewatching it and it could barely hold my attention throughout. This isone of the few films I've seen this year that was a real chore to getthrough, and I can't even say that about "Abduction", so you KNOW thisis bad. If you thought "Batman and Robin" had some of the worst punsimaginable, you haven't seen this film; except they're not even bad ona laughable level, they're just plain stupid. Rodriguez wrote thescript himself and did a terrible job on it; he just can't write kidfilms, let alone entertaining ones. There's nothing in the film to setit apart from previous entries and it has the standard barebones plotand unconvincing special effects that you'd expect. In fact, thespecial effects in this entry are even less convincing than the ones inthe previous films, oddly enough.The villains are bland, the twist is predictable, the music is annoyingand the acting is overall poor. The two child actors did a better jobthan the adult actors, but they were still excruciating to listen to,and the action scenes are so bad that I felt like ramming my own headin with a hammer while viewing them, which I probably should've done tosave myself from having to review this garbage. Well, at least I cantruly name the worst film of the year that I've seen, as I would'vedone a disservice to all the other terrible movies that have come outthis year by not giving my thoughts on this amazing accomplishment ofawfulness. "Spy Kids 4" literally has no redeeming values whatsoever;Robert Rodriguez has once again hit an all time low.

ofranklin-149-709555 (16 May 2012)

Why the hate?

Why are so many people hating on this film? I took my kids (6 & 8 y.o)and we thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought the action was very well doneand the acting was sound. Loved Alba, thought Piven was great. Re. JoelMcHale: so often talk show hosts can't act (they play themselves), butthough he wasn't called on for much, he was believable as someone otherthan Joel McHale. I enjoyed the head-twisting Guillermo Del Toro-esquestuff. Loved the art design. The inside of the machine and all theswirling gears...that was cool.I know the text about family is maybe atad hackneyed but it was more strident than before in this one, whichmade me wonder a tad re Rodriguez's own anxiety. IN any case, I wasentertained and the kids were too (which made me feel good about timewith the kids!) I loved it. We even kept the 4-d smell card (whichadmittedly did not work very well) so we could remember the experience.Summary: We have seen all the Spy Kids movies and I thought this onewas the best. I felt like RR finally hit his stride. Honest. Maybe I'mmissing something but I loved it.

FlashCallahan (15 May 2012)

Tick Tock.....

This film is aimed squarely at kids. The whole franchise has, straightfrom the word go.And while this film does stink to high heaven, my daughter loved it andlaughed all the way through. Thats why i wanted to see it, to entertainmy daughter, and it did it's job.Rodriguez makes great quality movies for adults, look at hisfilmography for the evidence, when it comes to kids movies, he goeseven more over the top than he does in his normal movies.This is why i cannot stand all the hate, In 'once upon a time inMexico', Depp has his eyes taken out. In 'machete' Trejo chops 3 guysheads off at once. In 'desperad' there is a guy with a rocket launcher.So whats the big deal with this.The acting isn't very good, but i've never liked Alba for her Thespianskills, and the rest of the cast are just fodder.The story is okay, and the inclusion of Gervais as the talking dog ispainful, even he sounds embarrassed.So why the film is bad, i'm sure the auteur was not making it forpeople above twelve.

Nigel Andrews (14 May 2012)

Spy Kids - All the Time in the World is in four dimensions - the extra one being smell - and I hated the lot.

TheLittleSongbird (14 May 2012)

The worst of the series, and one of the worst movies so far this year

I thoroughly enjoyed the first two Spy Kids films, they were fun,entertaining and ideal family films. Spy Kids 3 was rather mediocre anddisappointing, but any horrible assets that film had was nothingcompared to this.When I entered the theatre to watch this, yes I wanted to see itdespite the trailer not looking that good, I thought if it is badsurely it can't be as bad as The Adventures of Sharkboy and LavaGirl. Iwas wrong, as awful as that film was Spy Kids 4 takes the cake asRodriguez's worst film.The film for starters looks cheap. The camera work at best is odd, andthe effects lack clarity. The gadgets looked cool from the outset butonce the nappy bombs for instance are introduced they lose their appealvery quickly.I didn't think much of the soundtrack either. I found it rather generichere rather than jaunty and memorable. And Rodriguez's direction is hismost unfocused and inept directing job in my opinion of his career.The script is awful, relying far too much on tired slapstick andheavy-handed messaging, while the story is rushed and much too thin forthe film's running time and the action is dull and not helped by thehaphazard editing.Acting-wise, this film is disappointing. It was nice to be DarylSabarra and Alexa Vega here but other than the basic concept of themovie, them and Rodriguez, there seemed to be no connection to itspredecessors. The new kids do what they can, but they aren't asconfident or as appealing.Jeremy Piven does give his all into a very underwritten anduninteresting villain part and his two other roles as well but atpoints it feels like he's overdoing it. Danny Trejo is wasted, AntonioBanderas was cut which is yet another reason why this doesn't feel likea Spy Kids movie, Jessica Alba does nothing with her role other thanlook pretty, while even Ricky Gervais is flat.The cast are not helped by how their characters are written. Thecharacters here are so cardboard, it is difficult to engage with themon any level.Overall, despite the trailer I was all for seeing this film. But it wasawful(as part of a franchise and on its own terms) and a bigdisappointment. 1/10 Bethany Cox

Hellmant (14 May 2012)

I really wish I could enjoy Rodriguez's kids' movie ventures as well but I just can't!

'SPY KIDS: ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD': One Star (Out of Five)Robert Rodriguez's fourth film in his popular kids' movie franchise inwhich he performs his usual writing and directing duties as well asseveral other functions including producing, cinematography and music.I'm a big fan of Rodriguez, he's actually one of my favorite writersand directors, but I hate his kids' movies; I love all of his filmsexcept the ones he aims at children. I admire him fully embracing hisinner child, creativity and unchecked imagination but I just don'tthink it works with his kids' films. Sure they're entertaining andamusing to children but they offer them no other value and haveabsolutely nothing at all to offer adults (except a painstakinglyannoying film going experience). A good kids' movie should beentertaining to adults as well as children and Rodriguez's filmsdefinitely don't have that quality. As far as the 'SPY KIDS' films go(as well as his other kids movies) this one is by far the worst aswell. It was simply painful to watch and one of the most unpleasantfilm going experiences I've had all year!It's been eight years since the last 'SPY KIDS' film and stars (of thefirst three films) Antonio Banderas and Carla Gugino are nowhere to befound in this installment. Jessica Alba stars this time around asretired spy Marissa Cortez Wilson. She's married to a TV 'spy hunter'reporter named Wilbur (Joel McHale of TV's 'THE SOUP' and 'COMMUNITY'),who has no idea she's an actual spy. The two have a newborn babytogether but Wilbur's ten year old twins Rebecca (Rowan Blanchard) andCecil (Mason Cook) don't appreciate their new stepmother. All thatchanges when Marissa is called back into action to stop the evilvillain Timekeeper (Jeremy Piven) from taking over the world and thekids get involved in the action. The original 'Spy Kids' Carmen (AlexaVega) and Juni Cortez (Daryl Sabara), Marissa's niece and nephew,return to help the new 'Spy Kids' out. Ricky Gervais costars as thevoice of the family dog and is the film's one saving grace! The movie completely scrapes the bottom of the barrel clean! There'snot much lower Rodriguez could have gone in trying to appeal to thelaziest part of children's minds. One could argue that movies like thismake kid's dumber but I wouldn't go that far. If I had kids that wantedto watch this and just be entertained for 90 minutes I'd probably letthem but I certainly wouldn't want to watch it with them (unless Ihadn't already seen it I guess, because of the Rodriguez factor, butunder no other circumstances). A good kids' film should be one you canenjoy watching with your children and get something out of as well(like 'THE MUPPETS' from earlier this year, or the 'STAR WARS' films).I really wish I could enjoy Rodriguez's kids' movie ventures as wellbut I just can't. It's too bad he doesn't put that amazing talent tobetter use; I know there's a truly great family film in him, he justdoesn't know how to channel it yet.Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXu8bs0LI9A

Mike Hale (13 May 2012)

Feels more like straight-to-DVD filler than a chapter in one of the last decade's most entertaining and sophisticated family-film franchises.

Ahmed Dawod (12 May 2012)

Very exaggerating

First of all, I was disappointed by the absence of "Antonio Panderas"from this movie. Another thing is the silly gadgets they used in themovie. HEY PEOPLE, "A SPY DETECTOR" !!!!!!!!!!! what the ......... ?This is the worst gadget movie I've ever seen. And why did they use thesame gadgets from the old parts? THIS MOVIE DOESN"T WORTH WATCHING IT. Even the story is very weak. talking about time machine AGAIN!!!!! Idon't mind making a movie about time machines but it should beinnovative and creative. AGAIN I advise you not to watch this movie. Itis very very very boring. I regretted that I wasted an hour and a halfwatching it.

Brian Gibson (12 May 2012)

A nice mix of old-fashioned imagination (anagrams, pranks, secret spaces) and newfangled effects (gizmos, gadgets, graphics), it's a rollicking, never obnoxious family flick.

Derek Malcolm (12 May 2012)

Rodriguez' first film was the celebrated low-budget El Mariachi. This one, a chaotic mess from start to finish, must be something like his nadir.

collipal-1 (11 May 2012)

An entertaining family film

I liked the films Spy Kids and Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams verymuch because they captured the tone and sensibility of the best familycinema, naughty and subversive but without falling into the vulgarityand without insulting the audience's intelligence. However, I found thethird film of the saga (Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over) stretched the concepttoo much and lost the focus on the character, making them lose anygrace. Now, the fourth film Spy Kids: All the Time in the World triedto resurrect the franchise with a new family of spies, some characterswe already knew and a potentially creative screenplay which did not endup being as ingenious as it could have been. The final result is anentertaining, but not very memorable family film, which is verysuperior to the third one of the saga, but very inferior to the firsttwo ones.The actors from Spy Kids: All the Time in the World make a good work intheir roles, starting by the kids Rowan Blanchard and Mason Cook, whoare likable and spontaneous. Jessica Alba and Joel McHale have a goodchemistry with each other, and also feel natural and credible, withoutexaggerating the humor moments nor forcing their emotions during theobligatory scenes of family conflict (Oh, no! The father works a lotand doesn't have any time to be with his sons! The kids miss theirbiological mom and resent the arrival of their father's new wife!). Igenerally don't like Alba's performances, but I have to admit she madea competent work in here. However, what I most liked in Spy Kids: Allthe Time in the World is the dog Argonaut, in part because of theanimal's charm and ability, and in part because of Ricky Gervais'energetic voice work.As for Robert Rodriguez's direction in here, it feels kinda impersonal;like if Spy Kids: All the Time in the World was only a clause in hiscontract with Dimension Films, or a quick source of funding for him tomake a movie in which he is more interested. Nevertheless, I had a goodtime while watching Spy Kids: All the Time in the World despite notbeing very memorable, and I can mainly give it a moderaterecommendation mainly as a casual entertainment to spend a pleasanttime with the whole family. But if you wanna see genuinely creativefamily cinema, I recommend you the first two films of this saga, or theunderrated Shorts, which was also directed by Rodriguez.

Nell Minow (11 May 2012)

The gadgets are a lot of fun, including a robot dog with more functions than a Swiss Army Knife, hilariously voiced by Ricky Gervais.

Peter Paras (10 May 2012)

even the tangiest of confections lose their flavor eventually. For Spy Kids that "time" has arrived...

Nathan Rabin (10 May 2012)

The Spy Kids series once seemed charmingly homemade. These days, it feels less charmingly homemade than maddeningly amateurish.

alirioaguero2 (09 May 2012)

And I'm a Spy Kids fan!

What to say? Me and my brother (18) and his friend (also 18) went tothe cinema and decided on Spy Kids 4D most based on our previous likingoriginal 3 movies and the fact that 4D could only be interesting incinema, not video. And so I expected a decent and fun children's flick,with warm message and lot of fun action.So, I was ready to love this movie in a children's kind of way and tosee the Spy Kids legacy was supposed to be fun. BUT, when I saw themovie, I was totally disappointed. It was awful. The real value of thispic is exactly that three stars that average ratings gave, but I gaveit more due to my admiration for Rodriguez, Alexa Vega and DarylSabara. And seeing them all grown up and looking so cool and attractivewas the best part of the movie, although their characters didn't dosquat this time. They were kinda just... there, even more than Banderasand Gugino were before. But it was nice seeing them anyway. Although,for Alexa and Daryl fans out there, if you really wanna see them now insomething worthy, go see Halloween, Repo or Machete.I know that the story is supposed to be bubbly and childish, but Ithink that they were totally out of proportion with plot-holes anddefying gravity and common sense, for anyone older than 7. And thereare many children's movies who are still innocent and fun, but far morerealistic anyway. I didn't expect much realism anyway, but 30% ofrealism couldn't harm even the most imaginative films in the world. Thetalking dog-robot, shiny colors, gadgets who look more like MacDonaldstoys than anything else (I suppose their replicas are supposed to be inpromotion), ALL IS OK by me. BUT, I draw the line at villains WHO NEVERPUNCH OR TRY PUNCHING ANYONE, not even adult characters! They juststand there and wait to get hit!! Also, performances were OK, adequatefor this kind of film, no one's acting was above or below the OK level.Jeremy Piven was actually really fun as the main villain (Gosh, I'spoiled' the 'unpredictable' plot twist!) and his image was kindacool.And I usually like kids, and I'm ready to defend them any day, but thelittle girl was SO ANNOYING!!! If she was an adult she would be calleda name starting on B, no doubt. And the way she treated Jessica! Inever thought I would say that, but she needed to get hers, and not herbrother instead, who was kinda cute.Effects were decent, but 4D was awful! At least in my cinema. NOTHINGwas going out. Numbers couldn't be scratched out, just on them, and allsmells were kinda similar, mostly like peppermint.And yeah... 'Spy Detector'... right! But I guess it is OK if you are 7.

khannasameer85 (08 May 2012)

Must Watch

One of the most Awaited Movies of the year and it surely delivers. Theidea of time being sped up is really well thought of by the directorand come honestly how many $d movies have you seen Off lately. Theadded dimension to the movie of Aromascope is basically smell and youhave to experience it its totally fun. The movie is fast paced andgripping and all the character do justice to their roles. The chemistrybetween Jessica Alba and the new spy kids is very endearing whereasJeremy piven plays his part amazingly well. The movie is well justifiedkeeping in mind the target audience and assures to entertain kids aswell as adults. Totally worth a watch

nickmesafilms (08 May 2012)

Spy Kids: All the Time in the World in 4D (2011) - Aroma-Scope is So Obnoxious These Days!

So, it's been a while since we have seen the "Spy Kids" in a movie, andthe last time we saw them was in the 3-D movie "Game Over". Which wasokay, but I was just there for the 3-D. Now, we get newer characters, anewer 3D technology, and we get "Spy Kids 4-D in Aroma-Scope". Youknow, "Aroma-Scope" is where they give you this card, so when a numberpops out during the movie, you scratch the number on the card, and yousmell it. That's pretty much it. But there are so many disgustingthings in this movie that you just don't want to smell. I'm glad Ididn't see this movie in Aroma-Scope, cause I honestly didn't want tosit through that torture. The 3-D is okay, though! Anyways, JessicaAlba, who is incredibly hot, is a retired mom who now is the stepmotherto two crazy kids, one who is this cool kid with a hearing aid, andalways bugs into situations, and then you have this annoying littlegirl pulling out all these pranks, and you just want her to shut thehell up. Their dad, played by Joel McHale, is a television star whodoesn't have the time in the world to spend time with them, that'sbecause this stupid villain named the Time Keeper, portrayed by JeremyPiven, is trying to change time itself, and such bull-crap. So, theymeet up with the original Spy Kids, Carmen and Juni, played by AlexaVega, who's so hot today as an adult, and Daryl Sabara, who wasn't asgood as he was as a child. They gear up, and they try to stop the TimeKeeper. Then, we have our movie! What? I was just sitting there,listening to the jokes and gags, and they're just not funny. But theonly thing funny about this movie was the talking dog. Ricky Gervaisplays the voice of the talking dog, and he says jokes that are funny.The rest is just nonsense. Also, when you put Jeremy Piven, JessicaAlba, and Joel McHale in a movie like this, and they were all dumb, youjust start to wish that they got good paychecks for this mess. Besides,the movie throughout was just so weird. Director Robert Rodriguezreally wanted to make a family film for everybody, but all he made wasa family film for nobody at all. That's why Rodriguez should never takemovie ideas from his kids. The 4-D Aroma-Scope was super annoying, thecast looked embarrassed to be a part of this mess, the directing waschildish, two hot chicks, and a dog that's super funny. All of thatlead to a surprisingly annoying family flick. "Spy Kids: All the Timein the World in 4D", in my review, "a lazy and childish excuse forcinematic technology".

Mark Olsen (07 May 2012)

This fourth "Spy Kids" picture isn't so much bad as it is just boring, lacking the buzz and brio of even some of the earlier entries in the series.

Linda Cook (07 May 2012)

Clever and strange, 'Spy Kids: All the Time in the World in 4D' is a psychedelic action movie that will boggle and entertain the minds of adults and kids alike. If you like wordplay, you will like it all the more for the witty dialogue.