Spy Kids: An Imaginative Masterpiece
By Xander Townsend | Misfit Media Editor
(Spoiler Free & Includes Graphic Content)
Recently, Netflix and Binge added the Spy Kids franchise to their streaming services. I remembered growing up on the films but I hadn't seen them for close to 8 years. I decided to have a little bit of a marathon and I re-discovered one of the most imaginative, artistically distinctive films to currently exist.
Something I realised was no other film that I had watched throughout my entire adulthood had come close to the creative signature the Spy Kids films possessed. What about it was so unique? And why hasn't anything creatively similar come out in the past 20 years?
It is a well-known fact that Spy Kids, directed by Robert Rodriguez, is one of the most successful children's franchises to exist. With a total of 4 films (one of which embraces the shortly lived 3D medium), spanning over 10 years, these films have even had some of the most famous actors of all time. Something these films do that is a little more common in children's media from the 80's to 2000's was the inclusion of more conceptually horrific themes.
Children's films in general have had a complete restructuring with the limitations of what is and is not allowed in kids media being established in the last 10 years. Children's entertainment is now completely different with the restriction of themes, content and social commentary. It is a shame that films like Spy Kids wouldn't be able to pass concept in the current age due to the pushing of boundaries and the inclusion on selected content. Entertainment involving mutilated human faces, vivid, expressive love stories, and even beings made of human limbs, no longer have a place in movies made for children under the age of 10. Fegan Floop and his Fooglies are some of the most interesting yet horrific characters to ever exist. We will never again see movies like The Addams Family (1991), Coraline (2009), or even Jumanji (1995) as they are seen as ''too scary'' or ''too graphic'''.
Another aspect in which Sky Kids doesn't have a censorship problem however, is the inclusion of uncle Machete. The films Machete and Machete Kills are considered to be part of the Spy Kids universe, a type of corssover I have never seen in any other film franchise. Please don’t mistake Machete as something that is appropriate for children, as it certainly isn't, but I would love to see more franchises attempt to tackle such a hard target audience crossover.
The inclusion of unsettling themes and completely imaginative direction is what makes the film so fantastically unique. It’s a shame that I believe that era of children's film making is over.