Spy Kids

Spy Kids (stylized as SPY kids) is a 2001 American science fantasy family adventure comedy film written and directed by Robert Rodriguez, produced by Elizabeth Avellan and Robert Rodriguez with music by John Debney, Danny Elfman, Harry Gregson-Williams, Los Lobos and Robert Rodriguez and starring Antonio Banderas, Carla Gugino, Alan Cumming, Teri Hatcher, Cheech Marin, Danny Trejo, Robert Patrick, Tony Shalhoub, Alexa Vega, Daryl Sabara, and Mike Judge. It is the first installment in the Spy Kids film series. The film was released in the United States on March 30, 2001 by Miramax Films and on VHS and DVD on September 18, 2001 by Dimension Home Video. Upon release, Spy Kids grossed over $147 million worldwide.

Plot

Ingrid and Gregorio Cortez are rival spies who fall in love with each other. They eventually retire and have two children, Carmen and Juni. They currently work for the Organization of Super Spies (OSS) doing desk work. Content with the safety of their family, the two still yearn for field work. Meanwhile, the children think their parents are boring and have no idea of their previous work. Eventually, Ingrid and Gregorio are called back into the field when several agents go missing. Gregorio thinks that a kids' TV show star Fegan Floop (Alan Cumming) has kidnapped the agents and mutated them into his "Fooglies", creatures on his show that speak in gibberish.

Spy Kids (franchise)

The Spy Kids series consists of four American/Spanish family action films written and directed by Robert Rodriguez. The main plot initially follows the adventures of two Cortez children (portrayed by Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara) who become involved in their parents' espionage. The rest of their family are also spies as well, including their estranged uncle Machete and maternal grandparents. The films tend to have a strong Hispanic heritage theme, as Rodriguez is of Mexican descent.

Plot

Prologue

Ten years before the first film, there was a period of enormous political turmoil. Fearless agents were recruited for espionage missions against enemy spies. Gregorio Cortez and Ingrid Avellan (Antonio Banderas and Carla Gugino) were enemy spies assigned to kill each other, but instead they fell in love and married. After an atypical wedding, Gregorio and Ingrid took a break from espionage and started a family.

Spy Kids (2001)

After retiring from espionage for ten years, Gregorio and Ingrid are pulled back into duty for their important assignment despite the fact they were out of practice, and were captured. Their two children, Carmen and Juni (Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara), discover the truth of their parents' past, which they had neglected to tell them because they were afraid that if they knew, they would picture danger at every corner; and decide to rescue them. On their first mission, Carmen and Juni manage to bring around their estranged uncle, Machete (Danny Trejo), a genius gadget inventor and Juni helps to redeem Fegan Floop (Alan Cumming). Together, Carmen and Juni thwart the plan of Alexander Minion (Tony Shalhoub) to develop an army of androids resembling young children for a mastermind named Mr. Lisp (Robert Patrick) and his partner Ms. Gradenko (Teri Hatcher). The robots based on Carmen and Juni became part of Floop's show.