Sniffing out that sprog spies = franchise thanks to the Spy Kids series, Hollywood's been quick to give birth to an all-new Agent Anklebiter.
So meet Cody Banks (Frankie Muniz). Trained via CIA camps to be an espionage expert, he's called into action when a scientist is nabbed by hammy baddie Ian McShane. Only there's a problem: to get to the boffin, he has to first charm the researcher's daughter (Hilary Duff). Not easy when you're a class-A loner.
Too many studio cooks have stuck their spoons into this screenplay, meaning it has one-tenth of the imagination of Robert Rodriguez's adventures. What we have here is a James Bond-lite diet of cars, gadgets and crooks - however, it's entertaining enough to command teens' attentions, and the mixed messages (Be nice to your parents! Gambling's fun! Intelligence is cool! Violence solves problems!) are a scream.
And franchise fodder? Yup, they're already working on the sequel.
