Spies in Disguise

From the literal second that the trailers for the 2019 animated film, Spies in Disguise came out, people were already baffled by what they saw and got a pretty good idea how to view it. The mere concept of Will Smith as a secret agent pigeon was easily one of the dumbest things he’s been attached too since he played a monstrous-looking  fish for DreamWorks, and it was only made worse by the fact that it was going being made by BlueSky Studios, an animation company that already has a long track record of making bad animated movies with a strong childish leaning, so it was expected that this film would be shot down the second it came out and be swarmed by ravenous angry reviews. The movie did under performed at the box office and was even the last movie released by the studio before 20th Century Fox was bought by Disney, so it comes across like this was the final straw for the company before being taken down. It’s hard to know what the crazier joke is; that this was the final nail that Blue Sky went out on, or that in actuality, Spies in Disguise is actually a really good movie. In the world of spies and espionage, secret agent Lance Sterling (voiced by Will Smith) is an overly confidant top agent who is currently on a mission to find and take down a cybernetically enhanced terrorist known as Killian (voiced by Ben Mendelsohn) who is using drone technology to wipe out other special agents. Although Sterling seems like the top person to track this criminal down, things get comprised when Sterling is himself accused of working with Killian, with video footage showing him as a double agent, which forces him to go on the run. His only hope lies in Walter Beckett (voiced by Tom Holland), an outcasted young scientist whom Sterling recently fired from his job as his weapons were all designed to harmlessly apprehend criminals and not hurt them (which Sterling strongly disagrees with). While Walter does have a plan to make Sterling disappear, it isn’t quite what he had hoped for as he is morphed into a pigeon. Although initially disgusted by his new feathery body, it does do its job at keeping him secluded from the agents stalking him led by Internal Affairs agent, Marcy Kappel (voiced by Rashida Jones), and Sterling is forced to work alongside Walter to track down Killian and stop him from achieving his goal of wiping out all the secret agents of the world. Though showing animosity at first, Sterling slightly warms to Walter over the course of the film, forming a pretty effective pairing that will have to take down this super criminal once and for all. For what this movie could have been, Spies in Disguise actually has no right being as good as it is, especially cause the mere premise seems so offensively stupid. However, this film proves that through a well told story, very likeable characters, beautiful animation, good writing, and an unbelievably charming atmosphere, almost anything can be saved in spite of poor beginnings.

Loosely inspired by a 2009 animated short made by Lucas Martell called Pigeon: Impossible, the movie decided to add more onto the premise rather than allowing it to exist in a shorter format (which honestly makes more sense, but regardless) and turned what should be a ridiculous scenario and made it work within its own bizarre universe. From the outset, the story written by Cindy Davis is home to a tone of overly familiar cliches and predictable story beats that already gives off the idea that not only is it going to follow suit with most of Blue Sky’s line-up by being another lazy, soulless, cash-grab that caters to only the lowest denominator, but it’s going to do so in a premise that feels laughable even for children, it wasn’t off to a good start. However, what the film honestly lacks in originality (as a lot of this film has been done before several times over), it makes up for with a ton of likeable energy and charm, which goes a long way to soften the blow of its faults. It doesn’t dwell too much of those innocuous elements and instead spends more time on the concept and the various ways it can be funny, the characters and making them endearing and relatable, and the message which actually comes together pretty nicely. It tackles the idea of ‘’not needing to fight’’ pretty effectively in spite of still having writing and a narrative meant mostly for children, as the discussions about it (while containing familiar dialogue) is done well and is given a more appreciated slower pace and tone, but it also doesn’t skimp out on being creative and fun, as the alternate method of apprehending criminals still results in a lot of fun visuals and creative gadgets. It’s an interesting element for a spy movie to have and does come together pretty nicely by the end. One of the most surprising parts about this film (especially for a Blue Sky movie) is that it never feels like it is talking down to its audience, actually making an effort to take these ridiculous concepts and makes them work in a new yet recognizable way, which feels like it comes through the solid scripting by Brad Copeland and Llyod Taylor, and the good direction From Nick Bruno and Troy Quane. It actually has a nice feeling of heart attached which also results in some surprisingly effective emotional moments, its honestly a little shocking. While it is impressive that the movie did try as hard as it could to take itself seriously and legitimately get some nice softer moments, it is at the end of the day still a Blue Sky movie, but the film doesn’t feel like it’s trying to be a Pixar film or anything truly serious, so for what it’s going for, it does it pretty well.

The characters are all effortlessly charming, not just through how the movie rewrites these predictable archetypes into much better examples, but also through the charming cast attached. Tom Holland and Will Smith are two of the easiest to like people in Hollywood, and they are both so enjoyable to listen to throughout this whole movie. Will Smith is wonderfully full of himself and goes from jerk to nice so effortlessly by the end, and Tom Holland is wonderful as his humbler innocent sidekick, it’s a great pair-up that doesn’t shake the boat in terms of comedic duos yet works out nicely by the end. Most of the other voice actors are really good, the throwaway supporting characters aren’t incredible by any means, but are used well in the film, and even the stupid comic relief pigeons are handled much better than you’d expect them to be done, as preventing them from speaking and allowing their deformed designs to give them personality is a great touch and how some of them are used in the action is memorably entertaining. You can definitely feel like these roles have been done before and it’s hard to say that any of them are really that different, but through great voice acting and charm, it makes them work out in the end regardless of familiarity. Probably the only real downside to the movie is with how the villain is handled. The character isn’t awful, Ben Mendelsohn does fine as the voice, and his backstory actually does a good job at making him a little more interesting, but the more serious demeanor just doesn’t work in this sillier more energized universe (it actually makes him kind of boring). If they played with that a little bit or made him funnier by comparison whilst still keeping the backstory, it might’ve worked better, but as is, it is just a little weak.

The animation for this film is deceptively fantastic, and Blue Sky is already really good at making their movies look impressive, but this film feels like it’s going to the next level. It doesn’t go out of its way to look realistic and has character designs that are noticeably more sponge and rubbery than other studios, but it looks colorful, creative, and unbelievably energized. The colors are vibrant and pop like crazy, it has great structure and never goes too floppy on the character models to the point of feeling too loose, it has great detail, the character designs are still very well designed, the slapstick is effective, and the action is wildly engaging. It is portrayed as smoothly as a dance with how it balances the choreography of the characters with the uniqueness of the movements and is likeably off-the-walls and sporadic in the best way. While constant motion and camera movement can be a detriment to a product that is this zany and active, the film also knows when to slow down and have quieter moments, so it always balances itself out. The movie isn’t necessarily laugh-out loud funny and even a lot of the jokes aren’t actually written that fantastically, but the easily connectable charm allows the movie to get away with jokes that would normally not work in previous Blue Sky’s films. It has a sense of childishness that would normally be a bit too obvious, but the effort that is being put in from the directors, the animators and the actors make them work much better than you’d expect.

Spies in Disguise was gearing up to be another terrible kids’ movie done by Blue Sky Studios and another terrible kids movie in 2019, but against literally all odds, it turned out to be one of the better kids’ movies to come out for the year and is easily the best one done by Blue Sky Studios by a large margin. The story needed to go a bit further with some of its emotional elements to make it feel truly impactful, and the villain needed to work a bit better, but aside from that, the plot turns a stupid concept into something effective, the characters are insanely likeable and very well acted, the animation looks great, the action scenes are well staged and full of energy, there are a few good laughs throughout the movie, and it’s just an overall charming flick with a ton of likability attached to it. It will keep you engaged with the stupidest concept and make you forget that you expected nothing from this, fly on over and check out this deceptive little flick.