Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams

This delightful sequel to Spy Kids demonstrates once again writer-director Robert Rodriguez's remarkable gift for wild invention. Carmen and Juni Cortez (Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara) are now regular operatives for a spy agency, but a couple of rival spy kids are making their lives difficult. When an important gadget gets stolen, Juni gets blamed and loses his job--but Carmen hacks into the agency computer, reinstates him, and sends them off on a high-security mission to a mysterious island to clear the boy's name. The pace is zippy, every situation is crammed with dazzling eye-candy, and the cast is great--Antonio Banderas and Carla Gugino return as the kids' parents, Steve Buscemi plays a crackpot scientist, and Ricardo Montalban comes in as the kids' grandfather. Fans of the classic Sinbad adventure movies will particularly enjoy the elaborate creatures that Carmen and Juni battle on the island. Pure fun. --Bret Fetzer