If you know me, you know I love animated movies. Whether it be Pixar’s latest movies, or the newest from Illumination, or even the best from Studio Ghibli, I love them. They were a comfort genre for me as a child and to this day, I could spend hours upon hours watching them over and over, and still never get bored – which is what led me to watching Spies in Disguise, starring Will Smith and Tom Holland.
I, like many others, have seen plenty of Blue Sky Studios movies, from the Ice Age franchise to independent movies like Epic, but I’ll admit that Spies in Disguise was not one that I'd seen, mainly because when it came out, I was in my senior year of college.
So, recently, I decided to give it a watch, despite the fact that I never hear anyone talk about it – and, like, why aren’t we talking about this movie more? Because if we’re being honest, this is one of the best Blue Sky movies – if not the best. Let’s talk about it.
First Off, The Story Is Ironically Really Good
When I first saw the trailer, I couldn’t be less interested. At first, it really felt like such a typical spy movie. We’ve seen those so many times. The James Bond movies are famous for a reason – people love spy movies. Sure, they are exciting, but it’s nothing original. Now, it was just in animated form, because why not? Might as well make something for children to enjoy.
If you loved Blue Sky movies, here is our ranking of every one of them.
Add to that, one of the main characters turns into a pigeon – a pigeon, of all things, for a good duration of the movie. As a born and bred New Yorker, I’m not a huge fan of the bird. But again, I gave this movie a shot, despite my feelings about that, and I have to admit – it’s actually pretty fun.
The story isn’t a generic spy story, about some unlikely familiars teaming up and working together to save the world. Ironically, adding that bird plot gave a surprising amount of depth to the characters.
Before, Sterling was a pretty cocky dude who was stuck up and thought he was the best spy. After going through that, though, he starts to develop a lot more confidence in others, and learns to care for them and their safety, something he hadn’t shown at the beginning. Walter, his partner throughout, sort of travels in the opposite way, where he begins to show more confidence in himself as a scientist, and learns to show his strength in the face of villainy rather than being afraid.
It’s actually a surprisingly deep story – one that I would never expect from a movie about a spy turning into a pigeon. I blame the marketing team.
The Dynamic Between Will Smith And Tom Holland’s Characters Flows Well
I’m sure that the last thing we think about when it comes to these two actors are their voice roles. We know Smith for the Men in Black franchise, the Bad Boys movies, or perhaps his rap career , and Holland for his portrayal of Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe or Uncharted.
But, even with voice acting, these two work together very well. I remember when I first saw the casting I thought, “Wow, they just went for star power again and didn’t hire actual voice actors for these roles. I don’t know how I feel about these two.” But they actually killed it.
To be honest, I think their dynamic was what this movie needed to make it better. Smith does capture the suaveness of Sterling, while Holland is able to portray the smart yet shy side to Walter, and both come together perfectly. I have to give them credit where credit is due.
There Is Plenty Of Comedy For Both Kids And Adults To Enjoy
To be honest, it’s not that hard to impress me with comedy these days, since it feels like every animated movie has comedy that is so juvenile a monkey could laugh at it. It’s the bottom barrel of comedy. It’s a main reason why I’m not a huge fan of the Minions franchise.
I wasn’t expecting much when it came to the comedy in this film, but I will admit, there were plenty of moments I found myself snickering and laughing when I didn’t expect to. It’s not the most hilarious animated film I’ve ever seen (no, that remains Sausage Party, which is certainly not for kids), but it holds my attention in comparison to many other animated movies.
There are jokes for kids and jokes for adults, and I think if you’re trying to have fun with your child, this is the movie to watch.
The Animation Style Is Tons Of Fun
Something I really do like when it comes to animation studios is when they decide to mess around with the traditional animation style that they’ve done for years. For example, the characters in Luca don’t necessarily look like most of the human characters in many other Pixar movies. The same goes for the upcoming Wish, where its animation looks far different from many other recent Disney CGI movies.
Spies in Disguise took that route with its human characters this time around. When I think of Blue Sky Studios, I often think of Ice Age and its movies and how humans looked really weird in them. Or oftentimes, they don’t include humans at all, like Robots, but the design of Sterling, Walter and everyone else was really well done.
It didn’t make me tilt my head in confusion at the strange choices, and was well-animated to represent the kookiness of the movie we are watching. It very much pleased my eyes and I would watch a sequel to this movie with the same design. It almost reminded me of the way the humans were animated in the Rio films, if that makes sense. Realistic in a way, but also very creative.
And The Action Scenes Are Really Well Animated
I knew going into this movie that it was a spy film, but I have to say I love that the movie didn’t get too crazy with its action scenes. I feel the ones that were included were so well animated and it would have been a shame if that quality was cut down because of more shots to animate.
There are so many moments in this movie that made me cheer in surprise at how much fun I was having with the animation. Sterling narrowly avoiding being stabbed by a sword, sailing down a river, even just when he was flying – it was all expertly done and the animation was so smooth, almost reminding me of how it was in Rio when those birds flew. Everything flowed perfectly.
Spies in Disguise is one of those movies that I really hope becomes a classic years down the line when more people get to see it and enjoy it for what it is. Without saying much, it really is a fun movie, and I think you, or your kids, would enjoy the heck out of it. Give it a shot if you haven’t seen it yet.
Stream Spies in Disguise on Disney+.
Rent/Buy Spies in Disguise on Amazon.
