What does a boy in his teens want? A beautiful car/bike, Cool dress, wads of cash, High IQ to solve anything the prof puts on board, either a muscular body or kung-fu and ofcourse a girl to impress her with all these. Preferably the girl should be from same school and if in same class it is even more advantageous.... huh....
The Background
Cody Banks (Frankie Muniz) is one such lucky fellow, who is the elder son of regular middle class parents. He also has a smart (this runs in the blood I suppose) and inquisitive brother. He goes to a regular public school and also plays in the basketball team. He is always the center of fun amongst his friends. Why? Well, he ’’sucks’’ in front of girls. He stammers, stutters and looks like a complete idiot when he is confronted by a girl, alone or otherwise.
The Story
The CIA is running a program where they first identify smart kids through a nation-wide search and then conduct a summer camp where actually they are given CIA Training. One such Junior Agent is Cody Banks. CIA uses Cody to infiltrate an evil organization ERIS. He has to achieve that by be-friending the scientist’s daughter Natalie Connors (Hilary Duff). That’s the problem which Cody has to overcome and prove himself as an agent and stop ERIS from implementing the technology Natalie’s father is working on. He has a gorgeous ’’Handler’’ (actually mentor) Ronica Miles (Angie Harmon), who by the virtue of her age is good in relationships. This movie is about how Cody overcomes his fear and still proves his mettle as an agent.
The Plot
Natalie’s father has unknowingly developed a fleet of nanobots which can be programmed to do anything with full stealth all the while, under the aegis of the EVIL organization ERIS. Only to find his technology is going to be used for destructive purposes. CIA Officer in charge of this operation, activates his Ace Kid Agent Cody Banks to befriend Natalie and find out about ERIS’s plan and stop it.
Since Natalie is going to prep-school, Cody gets transferred to that school with full year scholarship. CIA even does his home chore (this part was absolute beauty) for Cody while he concentrates on ’’winning’’ an invitation for Natalie’s birthday party, which he eventually does.. From there on it is regular spy stuff....
The Gadgets
( I just had to add this one. Watch out for this section in my upcoming 007 reviews, I just bought a full 007 series CDs set)..
What cool gadgets, ofcourse you might have seen some of this with Roger Moore or Pierce Brosnan. But imagine if YOU has this when you were a kid!!!!
X-ray Glasses : Boy, he makes a real racket with this stuff...
Suction Cup Shoes : hey haven’t we seen this before? but that scene when he uses it, what interesting it was
Watch cum Sling : Didn’t our friend 007 use it previously? But this dude does it with same ease.
Ok Time for analysis
Story (3/5)
The best part of the movie is it is not serious about what is trying to say. Just a piece of comedy. I liked the part when CIA does all the chores for Cody. Literally these guys are taking pot shots at CIA and its activities, I like it. Anyway, a decent story though it was not worth watching because its all done many times over and over. BUT... read along
Plot (2/5)
Once again same dad-daughter-hero triangle only the idea of Nanobots (do they really exist, cause I have some job for them!!!) is new. Other than that it is regular evil-man-destroying-world and secret-agent-stopping-saving-the-world stuff.....
Action (3/5)
I think the action scenes were real beauty. The first scene where Cody saves a toddler in a car, then the spectacular chase on the snowboard. Also that driving license scene was a beauty... Maybe the events and gadgets and the villains are predictable, but..... read along
Cast (4/5)
This is the one that props up everything that sucks in this movie. Muniz does more justice to his role and really shines well as a secret agent. I feel he has that coolness of Brosnan (correct me if im wrong) while escaping or while using his cool gadgets, really at ease I should say. Duff and Muniz make cool ’’couple’’, complete with Muniz’s stumbling & mumbling. Harmon is WOW (ofcourse I was told it is not ’’Real’’ :) ;) ). She makes her mark too. I sort of liked Cody’s kid brother...what do you think? And the CIA Program Head (dunno his name) he too was cool.
Special Effects (2/5)
Not much of special effects here. But ok few places like the personal helicopter of Harmon and Cody’s ceiling walks were good.
Direction (3/5)
Neat job by Director Harald Zwart. He is very sure of his aim ’’To put Cody in a commanding role’’ and does just that.
Final Verdict (3/5)
This movie would have got a clean 2/5, had it not been for its likeable cast. Everything in this movie is done and history long before Muniz was born!!! Still it is the Cast that props up this movie and makes you live through the 96 minutes without reaching for the STOP button...
Watch it with your kid(s) / kid brother. Fun movie to end your Saturday Night. Watch it when you have finished a bottle of beer.....