2019 has not been the fairest year for animation for me especially being a huge fan of the genre. Disappointments like “Frozen II” and “The Addams Family” prevented me from being positive about the particular genre this year. However, Blue Sky Studios, a company that is super notorious for making the “Ice Age” franchise, actually made something fresh, original, and fun for the whole family. That is Nick Bruno and Troy Quane’s directorial debut, “Spies In Disguise”.
In the film’s first four minutes, we focus on a child named Walter Beckett, a human being whose motivation is to build science experiments to obviously save the world. He tells his mother (Rachel Brosnahan) that his students at school call him “weird” because of his experiments. Before leaving for her job as a police officer, she creates a name for both her and Walter called “Team Weird” hence to Walter’s bullying.
Meanwhile, we meet a super spy named Lance Sterling (Will Smith) who finds out that after his mission at Japan, has a villainous clone disguised by Killian (Ben Mendelsohn) handling an attack drone from Japan. Returning to his H.T.U.V. (aka Honor, Trust, Unity, Valor) headquarters, his female boss Joy (Reba McEntire) now knows that it is in fact Killian from security forces agent Marcy Kappel (Rashida Jones). Before that, Joy thought it was just Lance.
Walter Beckett (Tom Holland), now grown up without a mother, is still making concoctions of many different kinds preparing for his dream. He meets Lance Sterling at his headquarters to display his concoctions, but underwhelms him to the point where he fires Beckett. Somehow, Sterling finds a way to visit Beckett’s house to discover his new invention which is called a “biodynamic concealment”. The whole entire movie turns from a spy film to a spy comedy when Lance Sterling drinks the liquid and turns into a blue pigeon questioning if he can see his butt.
Now as a pigeon, Lance must pair up with Walter in disguising fashion to stop the revenging terrorist that is Killian.
Blue Sky Studios is kind of similar to Illumination Entertainment (Despicable Me, The Secret Life of Pets) where when making original content, they showcase genuine emotion for the audience and take time to create a worthwhile story.
Bruno and Quane’s “Spies in Disguise” may feel familiar with the journey and being in the veins of “The Emperor’s New Groove”, but it is instantly one of the hugest surprises of 2019 that made me giggle and appreciate the originality Blue Sky is displaying on the big screen.
What surprised me the most about “Spies” is how there are detailed and layered story arcs to Walter and Lance. The directors really do an amazing job of double tasking stories to both how Walter wants to save the world with his concoctions and how Lance believes that there is an evil clone of him.
It is for sure your average and predictable spy flick you have seen a lot, but it feels fresh and new at the same time.
Speaking of both Lance and Walter, Will Smith and Tom Holland have fantastic chemistry together bursting with tickled giggles and surprising emotional depth. My favorite joke in the movie is when after Lance fires Walter for his concoctions, he quotes to him, “I’m going to triple-fire you!” when he feels more untrustworthy towards Walter.
Sterling as a bird is about as hilarious as Emperor Kuzco turning into a llama.
You also cannot forget the hysterical kitty GIF weapon that might be one of the funniest weapons used in a movie in a while. Glitter is included as well.
I still do not understand the hate of Ben Mendelsohn’s voice performance as Killian. Mendelsohn is known for playing many villains in recent movies like “Ready Player One” and the infamous Taron Egerton “Robin Hood” which I actually liked. His character is a cybernetic human that has only one robotic arm that disguises in an evil Lance Sterling. Again, Mendelsohn is a guy that knows how to play a fiercing, idiotic villain you want to beat up.
The style in “Spies” is strikingly beautiful from it’s epic scale of animation to it’s hip-sounding soundtrack produced by the musical genius of Mark Ronson displaying a James Bond style to the film and even the opening credits, too!
Blue Sky really needs to obey themselves to not make lousy and annoying sequels to “Ice Age” and “Rio” and make more original and exciting movies like “Spies in Disguise”, a film that knows it is smart and funny in its own rights…..even if you are in the perspective of a blue pigeon. It’s truly a surprise in disguise!
Grade: 8/10
