This past weekend, I was given the chance to see a pre-screening of “The Spy Next Door” with my sons, Karl, of Teen On Da Rise and, Andrew, of Andrew’s Voice. We had mixed reviews. I separated each of our reactions below.
********************
Andrew loved it! He created a vlog of his reaction on Andrew’s Voice, feel free to check it out. I will note that as an 8 year old boy, my son could relate to the plot and the characters. The movie had plenty of action scenes to keep him entertained. He told me he imagined himself as the younger son, Ian, who was played by Will Shadley. He also left the movie as a bigger Jackie Chan fan than when he entered.
********************
Karl, my 15 year old teen, enjoyed the action scenes as well but was not as smitten with the movie as my 8 year old. He claimed the plot was too simplistic; however, that is the reason my younger son enjoyed the movie, since it was easy to follow. According to him, it had it moments. He enjoyed the action scenes and thought the youngest daughter Nora, played by Alina Foley, was the perfect compliment to Jackie Chan. She drew plenty of laughs and was extremely charming!
********************
As a Mom, I have mixed reactions. I do believe tweens would love the movie because of its action scenes and simple plot. However, I was disappointed in some of the scenes and what they were bringing across to the kids. There were three scenes which made me cringe. Note, my reaction may contains spoilers.
In the beginning of the movie, Bob Ho, played by Jackie Chan, is telling his friend that he wants to get married. His friend tries to dissuade him by retorting, ” Just find some woman you’re gonna hate in 5 years and give her your house.” This sentiment was expressed several times in the movie. As a single Mom who is trying to raise two good men, I was extremely disappointed to see this in a kids movie. I feel it belittles women and teaches boys that marriage is not something to be entered into. It basically reinforces the old cliche, “Why buy the cow if the milk is free?”
I also didn’t like how the children treated their mother, Gillian, played by Amber Valletta. They were very disrespectful and threw numerous tantrums. In fact, when my youngest, Andrew, saw one of the scenes, he turned and told me “Wow, they have no manners.” I agreed.
The last scene that stood out for me was when the son, Ian, was pulled into the Principal’s office. While being disciplined he tells the Principal that he was watching Playboy Mansion, in HD at that! My youngest turned and looked at me. I discreetly ignored him. It was not a topic I wanted to discuss with an 8 year old.
If not for those scenes, I would have enjoyed the movie. Jackie Chan’s action scenes were great, as always, and are sure to keep the kids and adults entertained.
{ 4 comments… add one }
um, yea what was up with that last scene you mentioned. I was shocked!
I hate when movies downplay marriage and make it seem horrible.
That you for this review. My daughter (8) wants to see this movie and I was hesitating because I am so tired of terrible children’s movies (G-Force anyone?) I’m not sure now about the Playboy Mansion shot…that’s not cool at all.
Oh my gosh!! You’re so right about the kids being disrespectful!! Why did I not write about THAT? The oldest girl was annoying!
Your review was great, and if I read this beforehand, we wouldn’t have watched it!! Darn it!
But, my older kids didn’t go, and just like your 8 yr. old, my little ones were more into the things your son was into also. Now, if my older kids were there, they would have noticed the same things as your eldest.