ody Banks (Frankie Muniz) is now a superstar in the young secret agent business. At a training camp, literally a military training facility masquerading as a summer camp to unsuspecting parents, the new recruits look up to Cody and want to learn from his superior skills. Unfortunately, Cody's superior, Diaz (Keith Allen), steals the files to a top-secret mind-control program and escapes to London.
The CIA Director (Keith David) comes in to brief Cody on his new mission: going to London to track down Diaz. His cover will be as a clarinet prodigy. The only problem is that Cody can't play the clarinet, so he will have to improvise.
In London, Cody meets his handler, Derek (Anthony Anderson), an agent who botched a previous assignment and got relocated. He hopes that helping Cody stop Diaz from using the mind-control device will get him back into the good graces of the CIA.
Once settled into the orchestra house, Cody meets Emily (Hannah Spearritt), a spunky British teen who may be more than she appears. While spying on the bad guys during his rehearsal time, Cody discovers the mind-control device is already active, and that it works on animals. He witnesses Diaz make a dog pour a drink and play the piano. The evil plan is to implant the president of the United States with the device and use him to rule the world.
Stopping Diaz will be tough, because Diaz taught Cody everything he knows. It seems Diaz can outsmart and outmaneuver every attempt Cody makes to thwart his scheme. But with the help of Emily, Derek and the entire orchestra of child prodigies, the kids will overcome the most adult obstacles in the espionage world.
Watching is all work and no play
For movies about an empowered youth, the Cody Banks films have no joy about the awesome things Cody can do. They go through mechanical spy movie beats never really acknowledging that there is a kid who can hold his own in an adult world. Agent Cody Banks 2 is even worse than the original. Seeming to theorize that kids will watch anything, the film offers young viewers insulting supporting characters, sarcastic dialogue that lacks irony and a hero who panders to their intellectual capabilities.
Kooky characters include a flamboyant, jittery gadget man; an old, wobbly, senile butler and an orchestra conductor named Sir Jerkalot. There's more to entertainment than prancing around.
The dialogue makes no sense and certainly isn't funny. When Derek says, "All work and no play makes Jack a very dull boy," Cody responds, "My name isn't Jack, it's Cody." That's his smart-aleck remark, but his name really is Cody. There's no double meaning there, so what's the joke? Even the expository dialogue is nonsense. At one point, Cody actually says, "This thing is definitely the thing." It's like they hadn't finished the script, so the filmmakers just had him say "thing" twice so the editor could cut it in after the writers decided what the plot would be.
The character of Cody has nothing to offer kids. Simply being young isn't enough. Audiences can relate to characters of all ages. Children relate to Austin Powers because he defies conventions, charms the ladies and solves the cases, being goofy all the while. They may not get the sexual innuendo, but they relate. Cody says things that make no sense, and he never deals with consequences of his actions. He embarrasses himself in front of the orchestra by mistaking a Mentos for a bomb, suggesting that he might have to redeem his cool, but he doesn't. He just continues along. The only scene that gets it right is when Cody is interrogated by the British police chief. In that scene, he displays cool and confidence against authority. It is the only time the film really acknowledges that a kid can surpass his adult counterparts.
At least Cody 1 had some action. It may have been badly cut to hide doubles, but there were fight scenes, chases and even an epic battle at the end. There's hardly anything in the sequel. Cody beats up a few guys in the opening training mission, then it's a full hour before there's even a chase. The climax is no epic battle, but rather a series of fight scenes whose pace suffers from the editing required for all the double-hiding, for both the child and adult actors.
Kids are intelligent enough to understand characters and humor, even to poke fun at themselves. That's why Spy Kids worked. What's so hard? Childhood contains so much joy and wonder with the belief in unlimited possibility. Robert Rodriguez gets it. Even Chris Columbus got it in Home Alone. Agent Cody Banks didn't get it, and Agent Cody Banks 2 is a complete travesty.
