**Spoilers for the movie Spies in Disguise and honestly? Beware, because this movie rules.**
Going into a screening for Spies in Disguise, I didn’t expect to leave yelling about it for an extended period of time, and yet, here I am. Essentially Spider-Man: Far From Home in animated form, the film focuses its energy on super spy Lance Sterling (Will Smith) and gadget designer Walter Beckett (Tom Holland).
Walter wanted to protect the world, specifically his mother (a cop), when he was a kid, from the bad guys by using technology that wouldn’t hurt them. Going on to work for a spy organization, he’s almost laughed at for not wanting to make explosives, and when he forces Lance Sterling, the world’s best spy, to use one of his gadgets, he gets fired.
But, luckily for Walter, Lance is being framed and needs an escape, so Walter decides to use his newest gadget yet: genetic modification. His idea is to turn an agent into a pigeon because they can become nearly invisible to people and blend in to succeed in their mission. The problem is that he hasn’t perfected it, so when he turns Lance into a pigeon, it takes a while to figure out how to turn him back.
The two are then on a mission to try to stop Killian (Ben Mendelsohn), who is using drone warfare to try to take out all the spies. (See? It’s Spider-Man: Far From Home. They’re even in Venice at one point!) Filled with hilarious bits where Lance is just trying to be a pigeon but doesn’t know how to do so, the movie truly has a Meet the Robinsons vibe where I question how this idea even came to be, but I’m not going to complain about it.
It has the heart we’ve come to know and love from animated classics and has given us a sweet new boy to love who only wants to protect the world. Lance, throughout the film, learns that the idea of being the best spy doesn’t have to equate to your kill count, and Walter, who just wants to protect everyone, learns how to adapt and be the hero that he always wanted to be for his mother (voiced by Rachel Brosnahan).
Spies in Disguise is the kind fo movie that kids will love and adults will cry over, and isn’t that a staple for a classic?
Is it one of the best animated movies I’ve seen in a while? Yes, I think I like it even more than I liked Frozen 2, and that’s saying something. (Alas, it’s still behind Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.) You can see Spies in Disguise on December 25th. Spend your Christmas with sweet baby Tom Holland as a genius who just wants to make the world a better place while trying to help his spy/pigeon friend, Will Smith.
(image: 20th Century Fox)
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