The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
‘Spies in Disguise’ a fun animated tale with something for all ages
Animated ‘Spies in Disguise’ flies around with genre, resulting in fun adventure
We see a clock counting down. We watch as screws are unscrewed and wires are cut. Seemingly, as a result, the clock begins to move faster.
Considering these are the opening moments of “Spies in Disguise” — an overactive yet highly enjoyable animated romp — in which Will Smith voices a superspy named Lance Sterling, we assume this is Lance defusing a bomb.
But the clock hits all zeroes — a hint this wasn’t Lance at work — and the resulting chaos generated by young Walter Beckett (voiced by Tom Holland) ends with a projectile shattering the coffee mug being held by his mother (Rachel Brosnahan), who has just entered the room.
“Sorry,” Walter says to Mom. “Did you need that mug?”
“I needed that coffee,”
Mom says.
She isn’t really mad, however. This is who her son is — a brilliant young inventor who says the kids at school don’t like him because he’s weird. She assures him that one day his inventions will save many lives.
“And everybody will wish they were as weird as you,” she says.
The action then moves to Japan nearly a decade and a half later. We are introduced to Lance, making quick work of a gang of machine gun-carrying
henchmen who’d been charged with keeping him out of a building. When he’s done with them, a pigeon perched above their sprawled-out bodies adds insult to their injuries.
“Rats with wings,” a mildly disgusted Lance comments to himself.
Lance soon encounters the villainous Keller “Robohand” Killian (Ben Mendelsohn, “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”), who has a robotic
claw at the end of his right arm and who tells Lance the two have met before, an experience Lance doesn’t recall. Although Lance is
thrown off when one of his high-tech weapons doesn’t work as expected — instead of creating a measure of deadly force, it sends out a bunch of glitter and holographic cat images meant to cause the target to experience a distracting release of serotonin — he is able to leave Japan with the extremely deadly drone he’d gone there to retrieve. Or so he thinks.
When he arrives back at the Washington, D.C.based headquarters of The Agency, where he is greeted like an absolute star, he goes to find the now-grown Walter, whom Lance has learned is responsible for the “Kitty Glitter” weapon.
Walter is thrilled to meet him and uses the opportunity to show him some of the non-lethal gadgets he’s been developing. Unfortunately, Lance isn’t impressed — “Can’t save the world with a hug, Walter,” he admonishes — and fires Walter.
However, it is soon Lance who’s in trouble at The Agency. The briefcase he thinks is holding the drone is actually empty, and Internal Affairs agent Marcy Kappel (Rashida Jones) has reason to believe Lance stole the weapon. Ordered by his superior Joy Kenkins (Reba McEntire), whom he refers to as “Joyless,” to cooperate with the investigation, he instead flees the building.
Believing Walter can help him, he pays a visit to his house. When Walter suggests they share a drink, Lance impulsively grabs from Walter a glass containing a liquid that actually is a chemical concoction he has been developing to allow an agent to change physical form.
Moments later, Lance is a pigeon.
A walking-and-talking but standard-sized pigeon. And now Lance — who prides himself on flying solo — needs Walter not just to develop a chemical mixture to make him human again but to help him take down Robohand, who clearly has framed Lance with the theft and who possesses the drone. After all, while Lance now has some pigeon-related benefits — these rats with wings have 360-degree vision — he can’t really even open a door.
The adventure that follows is chock full of both spy-related thrills and solid laughs.
“Spies in Disguise,” based on the animated short film “Pigeon Impossible” by Lucas Martell, is directed by Troy Quane and Nick Bruno from a screenplay by Brad Copeland and Lloyd Taylor, with a story-by credit going to Cindy Davis. Together, they have crafted something really fun, even if “Spies in Disguise” likely won’t stand among modern animation’s greats.
While it doesn’t pack a huge emotional punch, it does have some valuable lessons to impart younger viewers about teamwork and looking for non-violent methods to resolve conflict.
Plus, Smith (“Aladdin,”
“Gemini Man”) is the perfect choice for the insanely confident Lance. It’s a really nice voice performance.
Holland (“Spider-Man: Far From Home”) offers a fine counterbalance to Lance as Walter, borrowing some of Peter Parker’s earnestness and nerdiness for this tale of good-versus-evil.
Lastly, the animation wizards deserve a lot of kudos. This is a great-looking movie, one that jumps off the screen even in 2-D as opposed to the optional 3-D.
Like the recently released “Jumanji: The Next Level,” “Spies in Disguise” is the kind of family-friendly movie that actually is likely to entertain all ages.
If “Spies in Disguise” does well at the box office, we probably haven’t seen the last of Lance and Walter, which would be terrific — we’d fly with this dynamic duo anytime.