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| Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London |
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  (5/10)
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Runtime: 93 |
| Public Rating: 7.65 (165 votes) |
Director: Kevin Allen |
| MPAA Rating: g.gif |
| Genre: kids spy comedy |
Year: 2004 |
| Writer(s): Harald Zwart & Dylan Sellers and Don Rhymer (story), Dan Rhymer (screenplay), based on the characters created by Jeffrey Jurgensen. |
| Distributor: MGM |
| Reviewed by: Avril Carruthers |
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Produced by Guy Oseary, David C. Glasser, Dylan Sellers, Bob Yari, David Nicksay.
Starring Frankie Muniz, Keith David, Anthony Anderson, Hannah Spearritt, Cynthia Stevenson, Daniel Roebuck. Anna Chancellor, Keith Allen, James Faulkner, Connor Widdows, Alfie Allen, Leilah Isaac, Julian Firth.
Frankie Muniz continues his fast-action mini-James Bond role of teen CIA Agent Cody Banks in this new adventure taking him to London to defeat yet another maniac with an overwhelming desire to take over the world. Beginning with a CIA training camp for kid spies disguised as ‘Kamp Woody’ Summer Camp, Cody’s exceptional commando skills mistakenly allow his Instructor – who has unexpectedly stolen the CIA’s top secret mind-control device – to escape. Easily the best part of the movie, this entertaining beginning which involves smoothly disguising the state-of-the-art CIA training facilities into an ordinary kids’ summer camp for Parents’ Day then sadly degenerates into predictable and somewhat tedious territory – at least for grown-ups.
Cody is sent to London to recover the device and rescue sundry world leaders at a conference at Buckingham Palace, where they have fallen foul of the perpetrators who apparently easily find the opportunity to plant microchip control devices in cavities in said world leaders’ teeth. But first, Cody meets his handler Derek (Anthony Anderson), an agent in disgrace (like his handler Ronica Miles in the first movie, but unfortunately not nearly so feisty nor likable). After Derek meets him at the airport with a sign saying ‘Cody Banks CIA’ the relationship between them indicates that Cody is by far the more mature and aware of the risks of blowing their cover. Derek tells him to relax and think more like a kid. It’s an interesting element of characterisation – since without exception all the adults in this movie are either insane or idiotic or both, and Cody and his leading lady co-star Emily (Hannah Spearritt) are the only characters who are mentally competent.
By way of the London Crypt - ‘like Disney World for serial killers’ - Cody is taken to meet the nutty Neville Trubshaw (Paul Kaye) who supplies Cody’s gadgets. An exploding Mentos, a magnetic yo-yo device which allows him to climb metal walls, a dental retainer fitted with a listening device and a ball-point-pen with a telescoping cable à la Spiderman among others - cause Cody to complain that James Bond gets an Aston Martin and he gets a retainer and a clarinet. It’s a feeble attempt by the movie to laugh at itself and the gadgets are indeed significantly less expensive and impressive compared to those of the first movie.
Then Cody arrives at the elite music school where his targets are the director Duncan Kenworthy (James Faulkner) and his erstwhile CIA instructor Diaz (Keith Allen). Cody, who cannot play a note, must pretend to be a virtuoso clarinettist. It’s just as well his clarinet plays itself, although inexplicably this school has accepted him without an audition and under his real name despite the chance Diaz will discover him – which he does. Cody meets his fellow music students, among whom is his undercover opposite number in MI5, the beautiful Emily. Derek, who cannot cook, is the new chef.
The comedy is largely slapstick and unfunny, the characterisations wafer thin and ridiculous, the plot jumbled and annoying. While it’s fair enough that his parents are completely ignorant of Cody’s real predilections and treat him like a baby – every child can perhaps identify with deceiving his or her parents in this way - the major flaw of the movie is that every adult is portrayed as an idiot. If the premise of the movie is that kids will want to identify with Cody, who is super-coolly skilful if somewhat too serious, it works because he is the most grown up and effective character, even though he frequently succeeds simply because the adults (especially the evil take-over-the-world types) are so stupid. Making every single adult more puerile than the kids seems to be a rather thinly disguised attempt to pander to the tastes of a kid audience. It in fact insults them and presents nothing of deeper value than superficial entertainment.
The very predictable formulaic elements are also major reasons the film fails. Comparing both Cody Banks films, here’s a list:
~ Cody’s parents have no idea what he’s really up to.
~ Both his handlers are in disgrace and are given Cody to handle as punishment.
~ Despite the above point, both missions are of supreme importance – nothing less than to save the world – and yet are inexplicably given to a teenage boy and his handler-in-disgrace to solve.
~ Initial differences with both his handlers warm to affinity by the end.
~ On both missions Cody has to go to an exclusive school where he has to pretend to be more gifted than he is in academic areas, while outclassing everyone in martial arts, driving and athleticism.
~ He’s given extraordinary James Bond gadgets which look like everyday items.
~ Both movies have British arch villains.
~ Both movies use cutting edge technology, nanotechnology and microchip mind-control, as the vehicle for the bad guys to achieve world domination.
~ Both movies have a cute girl of Cody’s age for love interest.
However, what worked in the first movie – giving Cody a journey in which he overcame his shyness with girls, is missing here. Like the latter-day James Bond he is portrayed as not having ordinary human inadequacies (apart from not being able to play the clarinet or take life a little less seriously). Another deviation to the above, in Cody Banks 2 – substituting Anthony Anderson for Angie Harmon – doesn’t work either. Instead, a plotline developing Cody’s relationship with Ronica and perhaps allowing some personal growth along the lines of a conflict of attractions towards Ronica and Emily might have saved this film and given Cody a much needed character arc as well as more mature humour kids could still appreciate.
© Avril Carruthers, 20th March 2004
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