From Janes Bond to Jason Bourne to the Men in Black, there have been a lot of spy films in the history of entertainment. I can understand the appeal: there is danger, the excitement, and traveling over the world, but not many of them are animated, but that number grows by one with “Spies in Disguise” with a new twist.
Nick Bruno and Troy Quane are making their full-length directorial debut with this film, and it is full of stars in its voice talent with Will Smith (Independence Day), Tom Holland (Spider-Man: Homecoming), Rashida Jones (Parks and Recreation), Ben Mendelsohn (Robin Hood), Reba McEntire (Tremors), Rachel Brosnahan (Patriots Day) and Masi Oka, (Heroes). This is the story of Walter Beckett (Holland), whose mother was a police officer who died in the line of duty when he was younger, but with his knack for inventing things gets him his dream job as a researcher for HTUV (a version of the CIA) where he works with top agent Lance Sterling (Smith). Sterling’s archnemesis is Killian (Mendelsohn), who has gotten his hands on a new invincible drone-like weapon designed not to stop until it destroys its target, and after Lance thinks he has retrieved the weapon, it’s gone by the time he gets back to HQ. Marcy Kappel (Jones), an Internal Affairs agent, shows doctored proof that shows Lance killing an agent and stealing the weapon, putting Lance on the run and meets up with Walter. Walter wants to help Lance with a concoction that he things can turn people invisible but instead turns lance into a pigeon, truly putting him undercover to find the weapon and clear his name. That however comes with its own challenges.
The animate works very well here that really gave a level of realism to everything going on around the characters while still maintaining a cartoon-like quality. On the voice cast, it works without really blowing me away. From the beginning, I never really lost Will Smith into Sterling, as his performance was pretty straightforward to the point where his character even had his mannerisms. Holland does a better job with his tone and characterization, but Jones really does a great job with her character that is nowhere near what she is known for on “Parks and Rec”.
At just over an hour and a half, the story in “Spies in Disguise” kept me interested and does not get too complicated for younger viewers with good comedic work, especially when the other pigeons start to interact with Lance, without getting stale. Because of some of its originality, I am recommending this film as a Saturday afternoon showing in the theaters.