SPIES IN DISGUISE (PG) ***
Dir: Troy Quane, Nick Bruno
With: Will Smith, Tom Holland, Ben Mendelsohn, Karen Gillan
Runtime: 102 mins
A debonair James Bond-esque secret agent goes deep undercover to outwit his nefarious nemesis in the madcap computer-animated comedy Spies In Disguise.
Co-directed by Troy Quane and Nick Bruno, both making their feature debuts, this hi-tech body-swap caper gleefully subverts the 007 playbook by proposing non-violent, compassionate methods to neutralise terrorists and minimise the potential for collateral damage.
As the film’s diminutive hero sweetly puts it: “A good way to stop the bad.”
Pyrotechnic-laden action set pieces are executed with assurance and Will Smith and Tom Holland deliver energetic vocal performances as the impossibly lithe spy and dorky dreamer, who team up in unusual circumstances.
Ben Mendelsohn is short-changed as the film’s deranged arch-villain – he’s all bark and no bite – so the stakes never feel unsettlingly high, even when the script borrows a move out of the How To Train Your Dragon handbook in search of a tear-jerking emotional crescendo.
DAMON SMITH
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