Delayed Reaction: Spies in Disguise

Premise: A superspy is accidentally turned into a pigeon while in the middle of a mission to clear his name.

 

I'm going to ignore the fact that I would've loved this as a live-action movie. Will Smith and Tom Holland's characters are modeled after them, and both are familiar with this kind of action movie. I get that the easier voice-acting paycheck is 90% of why they took these roles though. As an animated movie, I enjoyed this much more than I expected. Nothing about it is groundbreaking. The "lone wolf learns the value of asking for help" message is pretty standard. I do think they mixed a message of non-violence in pretty well. Given the silliness of animated movies, it's easy to underplay the physical violence of what's happening. This movie actually considers that, which is more thoughtful than most animated adventures.

 

Smith and Holland play off each other well. I think we'll all be poorer when Holland ages out of apprentice roles. For a clear A-star, he sure is great with characters who show reverence to other stars. It has a solid supporting cast too. Ben Mendelsohn has a great villain voice. I appreciate that Rashida Jones as the lead female character doesn't end up swooning over Smith's character. Reba McEntire is an interesting choice for the lead authority figure. It's a great choice, but I'd love to know the path that got them to her. At the very least, I assume Holly Hunter got a call, right?

 

I'd also like to take a moment to ask about what's going on with Karen Gillan in random supporting roles? No offense to anyone, but with her level of fame, she'd make more sense in the Rashida Jones role here. Yet she takes a small lackey role instead. Then, a few months later, she has a 10th billed role in The Call of the Wild. I refuse to believe these are the best roles she can get. Does she just like doing fun random character roles? Is she doing favors for friends? Whatever the reason, I'm a fan. I like when higher profile stars are like "that seems fun". Kind of like Brad Pitt's random assortment of comedy bit parts in recent years.

 

Anyway, Spies in Disguise won't blow anyone away, but it's a pretty enjoyable animated action comedy. The kind that's fun for one watch, however, parents with children rewatching it a dozen times will rightfully grow tired of it.

 

Verdict: Weakly Recommend