Barnes & Noble

3-D or not 3-D? This features-packed two-disc set gives you the option. The two-dimensional version (retitled simply as Spy Kids 3) omits Fegan Floop's prologue and the glasses-on-and-off cues. The three-dimensional version may be harder on the eyes, but the state-of-the-art 3-D effects will distract viewers from the underwhelming story. Game Over completes Robert Rodriguez's Spy Kids trilogy, although it is less a sequel than a Juni Cortez (Daryl Sabara) spin-off. The ex-secret agent turned pint-sized private eye returns to the fold when his sister Carmen (Alexa Vega) becomes trapped inside a computer game. Juni's mission: Enter the game, progress to the unwinnable Level 5, and stop the Toymaker (Sylvester Stallone) before he enslaves the world's youth. 3-D is not the optimum way to view a film, but we've come a long way since the ping-pong-paddling barker in House of Wax -- or even "Dr. Tongue’s 3-D House of Stewardesses" on SCTV. Pogo-hopping frogs and other extreme virtual thrills spill off the screen. Unfortunately, the rest of the Cortez clan is reduced to mere cameos. The lone exception is Juni's wheelchair-bound grandfather (a game Ricardo Montalban), who has some unfinished business with the Toymaker. No doubt, Rodriguez wanted to do for Stallone what Tarantino did for John Travolta, but the Italian Stallion remains a little rocky when it comes to comedy. Still, the ceaselessly inventive Rodriguez keeps the 3-D effects and the whiz-bang action set pieces coming. By the time Game is over, bedazzled young viewers will want to play it again. Donald Liebenson

All Movie Guide

The first American theatrically released 3-D movie from a major studio since 1991's Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over is the third entry in three years in Robert Rodriguez's family-oriented action-adventure series. Along with the four members of the Cortez family, played by Antonio Banderas, Carla Gugino, Alexa Vega, and Daryl Sabara, most of the characters from the first two films have returned, including Fegan Floop (Alan Cumming), Romero (Steve Buscemi), Machete (Danny Trejo), Dinky Winks (Bill Paxton), and Donnagon (Mike Judge). This time around, Carmen (Vega) is kidnapped by the evil Toymaker (Sylvester Stallone) and imprisoned inside a virtual-reality game. It's then up to Juni (Sabara) to venture into the game and save his sister from the villain's clutches. The film's three-dimensional segments take place inside the game. Also starring Salma Hayek, Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over is actually the first of two 2003 films directed by Rodriguez that complete a trilogy, the other being Once Upon a Time in Mexico, the third installment in the El Mariachi saga. Matthew Tobey

Product Details

• UPC: 786936230550
• Source: DIMENSION
• Region Code: 1
• Aspect Ratio: Theatre Wide-Screen (1.85.1)
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
• Language: English, Français, Español
• Subtitles: Español
• Time: 1:24:00
• Sales Rank: 15,200

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