SPIES IN DISGUISE – Review

The morning of the big day has finally arrived. The toys are opened and the house is “knee-deep” in glossy wrapping paper. After a big breakfast or brunch, what are you going to do when the tots start to bounce off the walls? Well, you pile them in the car and head out to the movies, at least that’s what the studios are hoping. So after playing with the toys from Santa, how about a new animated kid flick that’s about toys? We’re not talking about Woody and Buzz (so last Summer), but high tech spy gadgets and gizmos aplenty. Bond won’t be back for a few more months, and he’s a bit too “randy” for the wee ones, so who’s more family-friendly (especially in ‘toon form’ than Will Smith? He has had a busy year, going from Genie to Gemini Man and now he’s one of the SPIES IN DISGUISE.

But we don’t meet “big Willie” when the story starts. It’s a flashback, fifteen years ago, with a little guy who amuses his policewoman mom with his cardboard and paste devices that explode in glitter. He seems to be a grade school spy guy. Flash forward cut to now, as the real deal, super-secret agent Lance Sterling (voice of Smith) infiltrates a snow covered fortress. His mission: stop Killian (Ben Mendelsohn) from acquiring a list of all active undercover agents from data kingpin Kimura (Masi Oka). After evading the horde of assassins and hitmen, Lance almost succeeds until he’s tripped up by a bit of tech. But the pursuit of Killian has to be put on hold as he’s called back to HQ in D.C. (under the pool at the Lincoln Memorial). On the way in he dresses down and fires newbie gadget inventor Walter Beckett (Tom Holland), the now-adult kid from earlier. But the routine meeting with Lance’s boss Joy Jenkins (Reba McEntire) goes off the rails when she shows him a video of the data thief, who now has Lance’s face (though with Killian’s robotic hand). Suddenly the doors burst open to reveal the head of the agency security, Marcy Kappel (Rashida Jones) with her aides Eyes (Karen Gillan) and Ears (DJ Khaled), who are there to detain and question Lance. But he escapes, hoping to clear his name. He’ll need some more gizmos so he goes to the home of the guy he just fired. Luckily Walter’s working on the ultimate disguise formula and shows the agent some of his new projects. Thinking it’s a glass of water, Lance gulps down that formula and changes into a…pigeon. It’ll take Walter 18 hours to make a possible antidote, but Marcy has tracked them down. They’ve got to avoid her and her crew while following Killian’s trail from a swanky Mexican ocean resort to the streets and canals of Venice. But how can Lance accomplish this when he’s (in his own words) a “feathered street rat”?

The voice cast brings a great deal of energy and expert timing to the often meandering script. Particularly entertaining is the chemistry between the film’s “action buddy” pairing of the lead duo. Each of them brings a lot of their previous feature film personas into these roles. Smith’s Lance has much of the cool swagger of his MEN IN BLACK’s Agent J mixed with the bravado of his last real secret agent roles in the box office fizzles GEMINI MAN and WILD WILD WEST (whew that one still smells after 20 years). And he’s just got a way with the wisecracks as he’s walloping a nearly endless stream of thugs. He’s an engaging counterpart to Holland’s brainy but timid Walter who’s a not so distant cousin to Peter Parker (minus the arachnid abilities and Stark upgrades). Luckily he’s got an infectious enthusiasm and appears to enjoy getting away from the lab, despite his trembling qualms. These two truly “play” well together. And they work splendidly against Mendelsohn who seems to be doing a whimsical comic “riff’ on his many sneering baddies as Killian. Jones makes Marcy most endearing as Marcy, who’s a more quick-witted take on the old “good guy who figures out she’s trying to nab another good guy” ala Tommy Lee Jones in THE FUGITIVE. And McEntire is a terrific “boss Lady” as Joy, though I really thought it was Holly Hunter when she first ordered Lance about.

Hard to believe, but this is the 13th feature film from Fox’s animation branch Blue Sky Studios (the first ICE AGE was in 2002), but the film certainly deserves a place at the “table’ along with the Disney/Pixar folks and Illumination. The movement is fluid and the colors, especially in the exotic locales, really pop off the screen (hopefully 3D doesn’t dull their luster). Particularly impressive is the character design work with Lance and Walter really resembling their human actors, but with some fun “tweaks”. Lance really captures Smith’s head shape, with subtle shading to denote a chiseled cheek, which flows right into the puffed upper body (perhaps the legs could be a bit thicker to support that torso). Walter’s got a clown-like bulbous nose which is well framed by his frizzy-mopped hair, all atop a gangly body that recalls many a silent movie clown. Really, the visual performances of the two are terrific. Unfortunately, lance spends a bit too much time in pigeon form, with a bowling pin design that’s weighted at the bottom, making him move like a billiard ball in a wet sack. The other birds they encounter aren’t much more visually interesting, despite the weird thing (a stick candy “drop”) on the head of one (guess he’s “zany”). The first time feature-directing duo of Nick Bruno and Troy Quane handle the big action set piece with vigor, but the film falters a bit in the quieter moments. That may be the main fault in the script which too often goes for easy “gross-out” gags (massive Kimura is without his robe while losing control of his “functions”). And Lance is much more interesting in his human form (the lil’ ones may be impatient for more funny spy action minus the feathers). But it’s a relief that the moral of learning to ask for help and not getting too “cocky’ isn’t “hammered” home as in too many family-friendly flicks. SPIES IN DISGUISE has enough eye candy, wit, and vocal talent to be a pretty painless post-holiday trek to the multiplex. It doesn’t soar, but the flick never crashes, as Lance does at his first flight attempt. Maybe for the follow-up they’ll lose the avian angle.

2.5 Out of 5