Spy Kids

"Real spies... only smaller."

2001 1h 28m EN

😐

5.8

MID

🔥

92%

CERTIFIED FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

5.6

IMDB

★5.8TMDB · 3,820🍅92%Rotten Tomatoes●71Metacritic★5.6IMDB · 131,798

FamilyActionComedyAdventureScience Fiction

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Carmen and Juni think their parents are boring. Little do they know that in their day, Gregorio and Ingrid Cortez were the top secret agents from their respective countries. They gave up that life to raise their children. Now, the disappearances of several of their old colleagues forces the Cortez' return from retirement. What they didn't count on was Carmen and Juni joining the "family business."

“Real spies... only smaller.”

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Cast

Alexa PenaVega
Carmen Cortez
Daryl Sabara
Juni Cortez
Antonio Banderas
Gregorio Cortez
Carla Gugino
Ingrid Cortez
Alan Cumming
Fegan Floop
Tony Shalhoub
Alexander Minion
Teri Hatcher
Ms. Gradenko
Robert Patrick
Mr. Lisp

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Robert Rodriguez
Writers: Marc Baird, Robert Rodriguez
Languages: Spanish, English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

88 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 4.2× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

25 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Spanish, English.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Spy Kids Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Robert Rodriguez, shot by Guillermo Navarro. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Heitor Pereira. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Robert Rodriguez shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Robert Rodriguez directs. Guillermo Navarro behind the camera. Heitor Pereira scores. Robert Rodriguez cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in Spanish, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

188 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Made its money back 4.2× over at the box office.
325 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
4Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Spanish, English.
5Part of the "Spy Kids Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
6Directed by Robert Rodriguez, shot by Guillermo Navarro. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by Heitor Pereira. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor Robert Rodriguez shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9Alexa PenaVega and Daryl Sabara and Antonio Banderas carry the top of the cast.
10Marketing tagline: "Real spies... only smaller.".
11IMDB entry: tt0227538 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
12Released under 10 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Guillermo Navarro
Original score: Heitor Pereira
Editing: Robert Rodriguez
Production design: Cary White
Costume design: Deborah Everton
Makeup / hair: Howard Berger
VFX supervisor: Daniel Leduc
Sound: Robert Rodriguez
Stunt coordinator: Jeff Dashnaw
Runtime: 88 min · 1h 28m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.78:1 (16:9)
Status: Released
Budget: $35,000,000
Box office: $147,934,180
Return: 423% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Spy Kids (2001)
Rotten Tomatoes: 92% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 71/100
IMDB rating: 5.6/10 · 131,798 votes
MPAA: PG

Awards

3 wins & 10 nominations total

Part of

Spy Kids Collection

The Spy Kids series is a series of family action-adventure films created by Robert Rodriguez. The main plot follows the adventures of two Cortez children who become involved in their parents' espionage. The rest of their family are spies as well, including their estranged uncle Machete and maternal grandparents. All films tend to have a strong Hispanic heritage theme, as Rodriguez is of Mexican descent, though the dialogue is predominately in English. McDonald's released Spy Kids toys in Happy Meals by the time all four films were released.

Also by

Robert Rodriguez

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Kamurai2020-10-07
★ 5/10
Decent watch, probably won't watch again, but could recommend for a younger audience. There just isn't enough here for an older audience. Maybe parents will get a kick out of seeing this and imagining their kids....but given the amount of sibling infighting, probably not. Alan Cumming absolutely steals the show with his Willy Wonka impersonation, and I'm furious that he didn't get the role over Depp when they did the reboot. The casts is odd, but does a great performance, and the kids having to fight themselves really did a great job. It's probably still has good than bad, but just can't say you should watch this right now with all the options out there.

Production companies