"Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London" is the sequel to a film that I confess I've never actually seen. Based on what I HAVE seen here, I'm not sure I missed all that much the first time around.
For those unfamiliar with the premise, Banks is an under-aged spy who works for the CIA, sort of a teenaged James Bond for the Doogie Howser set. In this installment in the series, the organization sends Banks on an undercover mission to England to seek out and destroy a mind control machine that one of its rogue agents (who's feeling unappreciated and slighted by the agency) is now helping to develop and finance for his own nefarious purposes.
This is harmless enough wish-fulfillment fantasy for youngsters, I suppose, but adults forced to sit through it with them will quickly find themselves irritated and bored by all the lowbrow shenanigans. There's a very funny scene up front in which we see how the kids' spy training facility is converted into an innocuous summer camp to fool the parents on visiting day, but, I'm afraid, this cleverness soon gives way to an inordinately silly plot and a succession of tired chase sequences. Although the gadgets are cool, there aren't enough of them to distract us from the appalling overacting on the part of virtually the entire cast, including Frankie Muniz who, though a likable young performer on "Malcolm in the Middle," is here forced to wear a single expression of pained disbelief throughout. As an actor of undeniable talent and charm, hopefully he'll get the opportunity to tackle more varied and mature roles in the near future and won't go the way of so many other juvenile performers - that of being stuck in roles for which he is too old and thus failing to make that successful leap from child star to adult actor.
For those unfamiliar with the premise, Banks is an under-aged spy who works for the CIA, sort of a teenaged James Bond for the Doogie Howser set. In this installment in the series, the organization sends Banks on an undercover mission to England to seek out and destroy a mind control machine that one of its rogue agents (who's feeling unappreciated and slighted by the agency) is now helping to develop and finance for his own nefarious purposes.
This is harmless enough wish-fulfillment fantasy for youngsters, I suppose, but adults forced to sit through it with them will quickly find themselves irritated and bored by all the lowbrow shenanigans. There's a very funny scene up front in which we see how the kids' spy training facility is converted into an innocuous summer camp to fool the parents on visiting day, but, I'm afraid, this cleverness soon gives way to an inordinately silly plot and a succession of tired chase sequences. Although the gadgets are cool, there aren't enough of them to distract us from the appalling overacting on the part of virtually the entire cast, including Frankie Muniz who, though a likable young performer on "Malcolm in the Middle," is here forced to wear a single expression of pained disbelief throughout. As an actor of undeniable talent and charm, hopefully he'll get the opportunity to tackle more varied and mature roles in the near future and won't go the way of so many other juvenile performers - that of being stuck in roles for which he is too old and thus failing to make that successful leap from child star to adult actor.