Spies in Disguise
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Spies in Disguise is a 2019 American computer-animated spy comedy film produced by Blue Sky Studios and distributed by 20th Century Fox and Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. Directed by Nick Bruno and Troy Quane, it stars Will Smith as Lance Sterling and Tom Holland as Walter Beckett.
Plot
Super spy Lance Sterling and scientist Walter Beckett are almost exact opposites. Lance is smooth, suave and debonair. Walter is not. But what Walter lacks in social skills he makes up for in smarts and invention, creating the awesome gadgets Lance uses on his epic missions. But when events take an unexpected turn, Walter and Lance suddenly have to rely on each other in a whole new way. And if this odd couple can't learn to work as a team, the whole world is in peril.
Why It's One of the Best Spy Movies
- Will Smith and Tom Holland do a fantastic job in their voice roles as Lance Sterling and Walter Beckett respectively, with Sterling being an overconfident agent who struggles to work with others and must learn the error of his ways, and Beckett being a well meaning but awkward genius who insists in finding non-violent solutions to conflicts. The dynamic between the two characters is entertaining and gives both of them good development as they work together despite their contradicting views.
- The supporting cast also make solid voice performances. Marcy Kappel as Rashida Jones is a great example where she is a badass and likable character.
- Amazing animation with a good use of different color palettes and varied settings.
- The movie pays homage to old classic spy films while also having fun with the premise of Lance Sterling being transformed into a pigeon.
- While the movie is mainly a kids film, the humor and writing is also entertaining for grown-ups without becoming boring or feeling "childish".
- It has good moral lessons about how violence is not always the solution (which is a very uncommon one) to a problem and how adults should also listen to younger kids.
- The climax of the movie has fun using Beckett's non-lethal weaponry in creative ways.
- Good soundtrack by Theodore Shapiro, especially featuring several songs such as TWICE's "Knock Knock".
- Hilarious lines, like Lance's "You're double-fired!" for example.
- Incredibly well-done action scenes.
- Will Smith is officially back for animated films after 15 years ago with Shark Tale as he voiced Oscar.
- The pacing works really well.
- This film ended Blue Sky Studios' film career on a really high note along with Ice Age: Scrat Tales three years later, and Nimona the year after Ice Age: Scrat Tales.
Bad Qualities
- Killian/"Robo-hand" (Ben Mendelsohn's character, who played Nolan Sorrento from Ready Player One) is a rather weak and unuseful villain, compared to Blue Sky Studios' much stronger villains like Soto, Ratchet, Sour Kangaroo, Nigel, Captain Gutt, Mandrake, and El Primero (the Peanuts film had no villain). While he is menacing and works as a mirror to Lance Sterling and his voice performance by Ben Mendelsohn is awesome, his backstory is never properly explored. It doesn't even help that his actual name is never said on screen either. He honestly acts similar Yokai from Big Hero 6 as well.
- Occasionally, the humor can be hit-or-miss, such as the gross out humor involving pigeons eating regurgitated food off the floor at a hotel resort in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.
- Some scenes can be outright not suitable for a PG rating, including the scene where they show Kimura's bare butt.
- The title of the film sounds a little uncreative and even misleading, as the whole concept of being a spy is that they are in disguise.
Reception
Spies in Disguise received generally positive reaction, with praise for the animation, music, humor, and vocal performances (particularly Smith and Holland). On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 76% based on 119 reviews and an average rating of 6.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A cheerfully undemanding animated adventure that's elevated by its voice cast, Spies in Disguise is funny, fast-paced, and family-friendly enough to satisfy.". Metacritic gave the film a weighted average score of 54 out of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale, while those surveyed by PostTrak gave it an average 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Videos
Trivia
- The film is the directorial debut of Nick Bruno, and the second for Troy Quane, after having directed the short film The Smurfs: A Christmas Carol (2011)
- The film was originally scheduled for release on January 18, 2019. The film was delayed to April 19, 2019 (which would've been the first one distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures through their subsidiary 20th Century Fox, along with Breakthrough), and then to September 13, 2019. On May 10, the film was delayed once more, to December 25, 2019.
- The movie is loosely inspired by the short animated movie: Pigeon Impossible.
- The character of Lance Sterling is a homage to Will Smith's previous roles in the Men in Black films where he also portrayed a secret agent. *The movie's climax shares similarities with both of Tom Holland's Spider-Man films, as it involves Holland's character fending off an army of stolen drones and at one point the villain drags him far into the sky and tries to make him fall to his death.
- This was the final film released by Blue Sky Studios before the studio was shut down on April 7, 2021 (or April 10 according to Wikipedia), and also the only film released after the studio's Disney acquisition. The following film, Nimona, based on the webcomic of the same name, was scheduled for release on January 14, 2022, but was also cancelled as a result of its closure before being officially picked up by Netflix and is scheduled to release in 2023.
- This is the only Blue Sky Studios film whose DVD release did not have previews nor any special features.
External Links
Spies in Disguise at the Internet Movie Database
Spies in Disguise on Rotten Tomatoes
Spies in Disguise on Metacritic
Spies in Disguise on Letterboxd