Back to Fight Evil, Family-Style

The summer of sequels and spy movies continues Wednesday with the release of Dimension Films’ kiddie action flick “Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams.” The colorful comic adventure, starring Antonio Banderas, is the follow-up to last year’s surprise hit “Spy Kids,” which grossed more than $112 million at the box office. The movie, which was hailed by most critics for its original look and offbeat humor, made $26.5 million in its opening weekend in March 2001, then continued to do strong business at the box office for more than two months.

Both the original and the sequel were written, directed and co-produced by Robert Rodriguez, who, before “Spy Kids,” was best known for such edgy, violent fare as “El Mariachi” and “Desperado.”

“Spy Kids 2” follows the super-spy Cortez family in its quest to keep the world safe from an agent who has turned evil.

Inspired by Rodriguez’s childhood fantasies of becoming a spy, “Spy Kids 2” is a curious mix of James Bond and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.” In creating the so-called OSS Jr. Headquarters, where junior spies Juni (Daryl Sabara) and Carmen (Alexa Vega) hang out, Rodriguez wanted it to be like the ultimate treehouse--complete with a helicopter pad.

The director also let his imagination fly in designing the strange creatures inhabiting the island--they are hybrids of animals such as a horse/fly, cat/fish and spider/monkey.

“Spy Kids 2” is one of many summer spy movies, including “The Bourne Identity,” “Austin Powers in Goldmember” and the Vin Diesel action thriller “XXX,” which comes out Friday. But unlike the others, which are for teens and adults, Rodriguez wanted to keep his subject matter family-friendly: “Spy Kids 2” is rated PG.

“We created even more action and adventure for this sequel, but at the core it remains very much about the mission of family life,” said the director, who has three children and lives in Austin, Texas, with his family. “The movie is about a family that just happen to be spies.”