After three days of trying to get into a screening, I finally saw the new Will Smith animated film Spies in Disguise. Why three days? Well, kids are out of school and they only have two regular showings of the flick per day, given the number of screens still being gobbled up by Star Wars. Was it worth the wait? Not really.
So Spies in Disguise is an animated flick about a super spy (voiced by Will Smith in full Will Smith mode) who gets turned into a pigeon by by gadget guy (played by Tom Holland in Tom Holland puppy dog mode). Why a pigeon? Because this is based on a short story where a guy is turned into a pigeon. But, really, why a pigeon? I have no idea. From a story perspective, it’s because pigeons exist in all major cities and nobody would suspect one could be a spy. But… well… I dunno. That sounds like an excuse for the screenwriter or director to have pigeons in his movie because he has a thing for pigeons. Or something. I dunno.
Pigeons!
The first half of this movie is unwatchable crap if you are not a small child or an adult who thinks pigeons are HI-LARIOUS. It’s a bunch of unfunny and head-scratching scenes about pigeons talking, having one biological outlet for pee and poo (because pigeon), eating garbage (because pigeon), and driving high tech spy cars (as a pigeon). And just a bunch of tired old spy satire jokes you’ve seen a dozen times before. Haha – he’s like James Bond only we’re making fun of James Bond tropes. And he’s a pigeon.
But the movie does take a sudden turn and gets… interesting? Maybe a little funnier, maybe the story improves, maybe there’s some decent action. And, minor spoiler, it’s also about that time they turn him back into a person.
But honestly it gets better when it gets a little messagy. Most animated flick these days devolve into presenting the kiddies a simple message about friendship or honesty or whatever. Basic stuff that, while good messages, are just tired and overused. But this movie focuses on the idea that we shouldn’t fight international terrorism with a fight-fire-with-fire approach (because we all get burned). It has a villain who has been horribly injured because the super spy just wants to throw grenades at all the bad guys. And the villain wants revenge in turn and the film suggests the cycle of violence will never end.
Yes, this is children’s movie logic that ignores real world complexity… but at least it’s teaching a good moral lesson. It also wasn’t lost on me that I’m watching the movie on the same weekend the Iranian military leader was killed by a US drone strike and they are threatening revenge. So I’m watching this movie that suggests murdering our enemies will just cause them to want to murder us. Hmm.
So I was asked to think in my fuzzy-headed movie about a spy who is turned into a bird. Maybe that lesson is too simplistic but at least it wasn’t the usual “power of friendship” message most animated films devolve into. I can’t say I’d recommend the movie since that first half is just a dire bunch of bad jokes… but at least it turns into something more interesting at the end.
Score: 70