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This is an action-filled adventure and you’ll be sitting
on the edge of your seat the whole movie. Cody Banks (Muniz)
is your average teenage secret agent. The only problem is
he can’t talk to girls and his mission is to get close to
one—uh-ohhh. The girl he is supposed to get close to is named
Natalie Connors (Duff). She is just a regular teenager
with a brilliant scientist for a father.
The gadgets are awesome. Cody’s “handler” Ronica Miles (Harmon)
is sassy and far from innocent. The bad guys, Brinkman
(McShane) and his large henchman Francois (Vosloo)
are going to get their evil rumps kicked. Frankie Muniz &
Hillary Duff make a super cute couple and really spice up
the movie. YOU HAVE TO SEE IT!
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From the beginning we see that Cody is your average 15-year-old
boy who has a pesky little brother, gets behind in his chores,
doesn’t know how to talk to girls and oh, by the way, he’s
been trained as a junior agent for the CIA... The first clue
that there is something “different” about our boy is an exciting
(albeit a bit far-fetched) rescue scene that involves a baby,
a car, and a “smokin’” skateboard with some hot music by John
Powell (a great addition that helps to get the adrenaline
going and keeps it going). We quickly find that the CIA has
thought of almost everything for getting this agent close
to the daughter of a world-class scientist who may be in over
his head with ERIS and his cute little nanobots. Cody has
spending money, gizmos and gadgets, his “target” Natalie’s
preferences (pistachio ice cream, T.S. Eliot and horses),
a well-trained “handler,” and all the self-defense and technology
skills he will need. They only forgot one thing—teaching him
how to talk to girls. The first scenes in which he
tries to talk to Natalie are painful, but then, so was the
first time most of us tried to talk to that bewildering opposite
sex. He eventually settles down and gets to know her just
by being himself (and saving her life a couple of times, thanks
in large part to the CIA training).
The obvious parallels between 007 and “Banks, Cody Banks”
resonate throughout the movie—including the gadgets, the music,
even the Dr. No-like setting of Brinkman’s secret laboratory.
There may not be as many beautiful (and scantily-clad) women
as with Bond, but this is, after all, a PG movie! (Besides,
Angie Harmon can easily hold her own against most of
the Bond ladies—in more ways than one!) Our only criticism
is that the gadgets were a little toned down—most were unimpressive
when used and when Cody actually drives the high-tech CIA
car from the “Q” equivalent (Darrell Hammond), we
only see him getting out of it after driving (with not even
a hint as to what its special features are). Are they saving
this for the extra features on the DVD?
Having grown up watching James Bond save the world time after
time, it was a thrill to be able to take children to a version
made for them. Don’t get us wrong, there was plenty there
for parents to enjoy, done in a way that was entertaining
for kids while not requiring us to cover their eyes
every five minutes. We recommend this movie to anyone who
likes the thrill of spy movies and wants the kids to be able
to watch too.
—Samantha, Caleb, Brian, & Karen
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out of 5
While we would never encourage anyone to destroy a video... 
