AGENT CODY BANKS 2: DESTINATION LONDON
US, 2004, 100 minutes, Colour.
Frankie Muniz, Anthony Anderson, Hannah Spearitt, Cynthia Stevenson, Daniel Roebuck, Anna Chancellor, Keith Allen, James Faulkner, Keith David.
Directed by Kevin Allen.
After the success of the first Cody Banks, as well as the popularity of the Spy Kids series, a sequel was quickly planned for the now 16 year old CIA agent from Seattle. No one knows he is an agent, especially his parents and obnoxious younger brother. At a CIA summer training camp (which can easily be disguised when parents arrive), he gets a commission to go to London to uncover a villain whose laboratories have developed a machine (used to drill teeth) that can program anyone to do what the criminal mastermind wants. His target is to control the US President who will be on a visit to London.
So, off to London to see the sights (which look attractive), to join a children's music school and to team up with an MI6 operative who is also in the orchestra. He is to be chaperoned by agent Anthony Anderson.
Frankie Muniz has proven popular on television in Malcolm in the Middle and is quite engaging on the big screen. There are a lot of adventures, action sequences and people under mind control. The finale takes place during a concert in the Palace where the Queen and Tony Blair are quite prominent - and seem to enjoy the rock song that is inserted into the program to give Cody time to unmask the villain. Pleasing, innocuous entertainment for the younger brigade.
1.The popularity of the original Cody Banks film? The teenage secret agent? Adventures? Credibility – but designed for young audiences?
2.The London settings? The touristic perspective of London with all its famous landmarks? The use of the buildings – especially for the orchestra in the country house, the performance?
3.The presence of Frankie Muniz, his embodying Cody Banks? His adventures?
4.The credibility of the plot: the recruiting of Cody Banks, his moving from fourteen to sixteen years old? The summer, the training camp for the junior CIA agents? The situation, the call for him to go undercover on a mission? The youth orchestra? The world leaders’ summit?
5.Cody, his personality, going to England? Mingling with the musicians? The sketch of the musicians – teenagers, multi-ethnic and multicultural? Their interactions? Pranks? Rehearsals, performance?
6.Commander Diaz and his diabolical plans? His association with Lord Kenworth? The Kenworth Laboratories, Santiago and his dental work, the microchips in the cavities of the teeth? The mind-control technology? Cody and his surveillance of the laboratories? His being caught by Diaz and Kenworth, the surveillance footage? Diaz in pursuit?
7.Derek, Anthony Anderson’s comic style, his work, agent, his accompanying Cody? The American in London? His work with Cody – and their being pursued by Diaz’s men?
8.Emily, the British agent, member of the orchestra, fitting in with the group? Her encounters with Cody?
9.Cody being captured, his experiencing the dental work, his own microchip, the mind-control, Santiago using him? The meeting with the CIA director?
10.The director, from the first film, his attitude towards Cody, coming to London, the meeting with Cody, his being taken, he also receiving an implant?
11.Emily, as a spy, her observations, getting Derek’s help, Cody and the removal of the chip from his tooth?
12.The build-up to the sequence in Buckingham Palace? The rehearsals, the conductor and his exasperation? Cody and his lack of musical ability? The world leaders arriving for the summit? The plan for them to have implants and be controlled? The taking of the American president, his cavity and implant? The same with Derek – and the mind-control that he get rid of Cody?
13.Emily to the rescue, wrecking the program? Cody and Derek and the confrontation with Diaz? Kenworth taken? The drama of the English episode – and the background of the very English manners, Lady Kenworth and her being the hostess, other society people? The contrast between British and Americans?
14.Cody back home, the passing of the summer – and his parents none the wiser?
