Agent Cody Banks Review
by Michael J. Gold (mjgold01 AT yahoo DOT com)April 8th, 2003
Agent Cody Banks **1/2
Directed By: Harald Zwart
Written By: Ashley Edward Miller, Zack Stentz, Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski
Music By: John Powell, James McKee Smith and John Ashton Thomas
Cody Banks: Frankie Muniz
Natalie Connors: Hilary Duff
Ronica Miles: Angie Harmon
CIA Director: Keith David
Francois Molay: Arnold Vosloo
Brinkman: Ian McShane
Dr. Connors: Martin Donovan
Running Time: 1:42
Rated PG (for action violence, mild language and some sensual content)
Reviewed by: Michael J. Gold
Cody Banks (Frankie Muniz) is an incredibly bright and athletic teenager, who three years ago was sent to a special summer camp run by the CIA to recruit and train junior agents. Since that time Cody has remained dormant, waiting for the opportunity to serve his country.
Cody is finally called upon by a stunning agent named Ronica Miles (Angie Harmon). Cody's assignment is to get close to fellow teenager Natalie Connors (Hilary Duff) whose father is developing an army of nanite robots for a megalomaniac bent on taking over the world by destroying America's missile defense systems. Dr. Connors (Martin Donovan), however, is not one of the bad guys, as those roles are reserved for Brinkman (Ian McShane) and Francois (Arnold Vosloo) whose names sound more like they should be on a cable TV cooking show as opposed to ruthless power hungry villains.
There is just one snag in the mission: Cody is unable to talk to girls. When he gets close to Natalie he becomes nervous and begins to stutter making a less than impressive first impression. The fate of the world rests upon whether or not Cody can overcome is fear and manage to get himself invited to Natalie's birthday party.
Frankie Muniz is simply a fun actor to watch especially when playing a character that is smarter than everyone else. In last year's "Big Fat Liar", Muniz was equally enjoyable at playing the kid who would outsmart a Hollywood producer who had stolen his term paper. In "Agent Cody Banks", Muniz easily slides into the role of a teenage spy kid.
While it is unrealistic that the CIA would assign a handler that looks like Angie Harmon to a teenage junior agent, she plays the role with a flair that is certain to excite the film's target audience of teenage boys. Even more unlikely is that said handler would allow the junior agent, to drive her Ferrari. The film is not about reality, however, it is more a boy's teenage fantasy. For the teenage girls there is primarily the budding and innocent love story between Cody and Natalie.
Wisely, director Harald Zwart keeps the film to a fairly brisk pace and we are never too far away from an action sequence or a scene in which something exciting or humorous happens. The film does not quite capture the energy and fun that Robert Rodriguez did with his "Spy Kids" movies, however, "Agent Cody Banks"
is still quite entertaining.
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