RATING:
PG
INTENDED AUDIENCE:
Older children to adults
RELEASE:
March 2004
TIME:
97 minutes
GENRE:
Spy Comedy, Mystery
STARRING:
Frankie Muniz, Anthony Anderson, Cynthia
Stevenson, Daniel Roebuck, Keith Allen, Hannah Spearritt,
and Keith David
DIRECTOR:
Kevin Allen
WRITERS:
Don Rhymer
DISTRIBUTOR:
MGM/UA
Please Note
In providing movie reviews on our site, CBN.com is not endorsing or recommending films we review. Our goal is to provide Christians with information about the latest movies, both the good and the bad, so that our readers may make an informed decision as to whether or not films are appropriate for them and their families.
MOVIE REVIEW
Agent Cody Banks 2:
Destination London
By Bruce Donaldson
Reviewer, MovieGuide Magazine
CBN.com Agent
Cody Banks 2: Destination London (CB2) is a big improvement
on the first movie. The first Cody Banks film was marred by a sexual
tone too mature for the targeted audience. It was basically designed
as a gateway drug to the innuendo-laden James Bond series. CB2,
however, is void of any sexual references, and the story benefits
from it. If you are one of the people who take advantage of the addresses,
we provide to contact the studios, you might write them to tell them
you noticed the adjustment and appreciate it.
The story opens with Cody Banks (Frankie Muniz) in training at the
secret CIA summer camp for kids. When the parents come for visitors
day, the spy base cleverly transforms into a typical camp. None of
the parents know that their children are governmental operatives.
This, of course, plays into every childs fantasy that they know
more than their parents.
Camp Commander in Chief Diaz (Keith Allen), seems a bit
hyper-passionate about his position as camp director.
During training sessions he yells at the kids, Trust nobody.
Trust equals death! The poor man is bitter about being relegated
to the level of a babysitter for the CIA. One night, CIA
agents in black helicopters invade the camp. Chief Diaz tells Cody
it is a simulation exercise and that he and the rest of the youth
must help the Chief escape.
Later, the CIA director (Keith David) has to explain that Chief Diaz
is a rogue agent involved in mind control experiments, and Cody trustfully
helped him to escape. Of course, loyal Cody Banks offers to right
his wrong by getting the Chief back. That is just what the director
wanted to hear.
Cody is sent to London, England disguised as a clarinet virtuoso.
He is enrolled in a school for musical protégés. The
woman who runs the music school is unwittingly married to an evil
mastermind, Duncan Kenworth, who has designed the mind control computers
for Diaz. Cody has never played the clarinet. He joined marching band
in high school as a clarinet player just to meet girls, but he never
had to play because the volume of all the other instruments covered
him. How is he going to succeed on his mission before his genius peers
find him out?
Chief Diaz has hired Kenworth to create a mind control chip that
will make the representatives of the G7 conference in Europe his puppets.
Kenworth demonstrates the power of his invention by making his dog
play the piano and pour a spot of tea for Diaz. They employ a crazy
dentist to replace the worlds leaders molars with dentures
that contain the mind control chip. Once each nation is in Diazs
control, he will rule the world!
Can Cody maintain his cover long enough to find out where Diaz and
his henchmen are hiding? Can a teenage boy save the world. . . again?
CB2 is well written and well crafted entertainment with a
basic moral worldview of good versus evil. The characters that Cody
meets in London, besides his handler, Derek (Anthony Anderson),
are masterfully played by British actors who are rarely seen in films
produced in the United States. Each of them portrays a quirky personality
fit for a childrens fantasy film.
Aside from some action violence and a couple scatological gags, a
Media-Wise Family might consider Agent Cody Banks 2 a fun day
out with their preteen and young teenage children.
Please address your comments to:
Alex Yemenidjian, CEO
MGM/UA
2500 Broadway Street
Santa Monica, CA 90404-3061
Phone: (310) 449-3000
(C) baehr, 2004
NOTE from Dr. Ted Baehr, publisher of Movieguide Magazine: For
more information from a Christian perspective, order the latest Movieguide
Magazine by calling 1-800-899-6684(MOVI) or visit our website at
www.movieguide.org.
Movieguide is dedicated to redeeming the values of Hollywood
by informing parents about today's movies and entertainment and by showing
media executives and artists that family-friendly and even Christian-friendly
movies do best at the box office year in and year out. Movieguide
now offers an online subscription to its magazine version, at www.movieguide.org.
The magazine, which comes out 25 times a year, contains many informative
articles and reviews that help parents train their children to be media-wise
consumers.
CBN IS HERE FOR YOU!
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