SPIES IN DISGUISE (PG)
A DEBONAIR James Bondesque secret agent goes deep underfeather to outwit his nefarious nemesis in the slick computer-animated buddy comedy Spies In Disguise.
Co-directed by Troy Quane and Nick Bruno, both making their feature debuts, this hi-tech body-swap caper gleefully subverts the 007 playbook by proposing non-violent, compassionate methods to neutralise terrorists and minimise the potential collateral damage.
As a young boy, Walter Beckett (voiced by Tom Holland) fashions wacky inventions for his police officer mother. Single parent
Wendy (Rachel Brosnahan) encourages her boy to think outside of the box as her crime-fighting sidekick.
Alas, Wendy is killed in the line of duty and orphan Walter finds his calling as a gadget geek at a US governmentfunded spy agency.
Tuxedo-clad operative Lance Sterling (Will Smith) relies on the agency’s ingenious gizmos to carry out his missions. Unfortunately, boo-hiss bionic criminal Killian (Ben Mendelsohn) outwits Lance and the spy is wrongly accused of treason.
Lance becomes a fugitive and inadvertently drinks Walter’s experimental biodynamics concealment potion, which morphs the suave agent into a pigeon.
Walter becomes Lance’s wing man on a globe-trotting odyssey with feisty internal affairs agent Marcy Keppel (Rashida Jones) in hot pursuit, flanked by her own tech gurus: Ears (DJ Khaled) and Eyes (Karen Gillan).