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AGENT
CODY BANKS Rating:   Director: Harald Zwart Producer: Jason Alexander Writers: Zack Stentz, Ashley Miller, Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski Director of Photography: Denis Crossan Cast: Frankie Muniz, Hilary Duff, Angie Harmon Visit the IMDB page for full cast and crew |
 Click on the above photo to buy merchandise from Agent Cody Banks. |
Review by: Curtis
Raines
3/13/03
Agent Cody Banks is probably the first "kid" movie I've seen in about ten years. I don't know -- even when I was a kid, I never watched "kid" movies. I could be the only person on earth that has never seen E.T. When my family first got a VCR in the early 80s, my mom tried to sit down with me and watch The Wizard of Oz for the first time. I vaguely remember me saying something to the extent of, "This movie is unwatchable. Let's stick in the other movie we rented." The other movie: Halloween. The first flick I saw in the theater was Jaws… I was four. Maybe in retrospect, not the best parental decisions in the world, but at least I understand why they didn't mind. It's very, very hard to sit through "kid" movies as an adult. Mind you, I'm about as immature as they come, but some kid on a skateboard and fart jokes does not make for a fun evening. But let me tell you, the geeky twelve year old sitting next to me thought Agent Cody Banks was the greatest thing since the Girls Gone Wild: Snoop Doggy Style Video.
So how in the hell am I supposed to review this? Why should I review this? I seriously doubt if anyone under the age of eighteen will ever read this. I don't remember checking out reviews of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom when I was twelve. My parents just dropped me off at the theater, gave me five bucks and hoped they'd never see me again. I really don't remember taping episodes of that fat guy and skinny guy to see if Revenge of the Nerds got a thumbs up.
As an adult, Agent Cody Banks is a silly, ridiculous movie that bore the hell out of me. But through the eyes of a kid (judging by the audience), it seemed to have its moments…but not as many as I thought it would have. Frankie Muniz (Malcolm in the Middle) plays Agent Cody Banks, basically a fifteen-year-old James Bond. He's a nerd, but he can kick some serious kid-ass. He can also ride the hell out a skateboard. Anyway, some bad guy gets a hold of some micro-built organism that will eat the tracking devices out of all the nuclear warheads in America leaving our country defenseless -- whatever. So, Malcolm finds the hideout and kicks the crap out of a lot of people. The End.
The first two acts were actually keeping the kids in the audience excited. Jokes we've seen many times before, but nonetheless, the kids were enjoying them. Malcolm nailed the role of a nerdy kid and the audience obviously identified. But by the third act, the movie went off in a different direction. It took itself a little too seriously. In fact, some people actually died, which really surprised me. I thought the movie would take the G.I. Joe cartoon route and show every bad guy getting out of harm's way just in the nick of time. But it didn't. In fact, the main villain meets his doom in a very graphic manner -- definitely too graphic for kids under thirteen.
So what's left to say? All in all, judging by the reaction of the kids in the audience, I'd say you could take this one or leave it. It might be a little too violent for the young ones, but in general, it's pretty harmless. It did setup for a sequel, however, which I'm sure you're all very excited to know.
One last thing -- I not a psychologist or anything, but maybe seeing Jaws at the age of four has a little to do with my extreme fear of the ocean. You think?
(An MGM release. Opens in wide release
on March 14, 2003)
Hey,
you -- under 18-year-old. Tell Curtis that Cody Banks is -- how
do you kids say it -- "The Bomb" on the message boards.
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