Synopsis: Receiving word that his sister Carmen is trapped in a video game, it falls to Juni to do battle with the game's creator, the evil Toymaker. Not only to save Carmen, but to save the world.

Now for the Zone's Eye View:

By Michelle Snow

Director: Robert Rodriguez

Cast: Daryl Sabara, Alexa Vega, Ricardo Montalban, Sylvester Stallone, Ryan Pinkston, Robert Vito, Bobby Edner, Courtney Jines, Mike Judge, Salma Hayek, Antonio Banderas, Carla Gugino

Supposedly the last in the phenomenally successful Spy Kids series, this movie centers on the youngest Cortez, Juni [Sabara]. Juni has retired from the spy business to pursue a career as a private eye. He then gets word that his sister, Carmen [Vega], is trapped within a video game. The same video game that millions of kids are waiting in line around the world to buy. 

Juni agrees to become Agent Cortez once again and enters the world of the video game to find Carmen and shut down the game before it can enslave anyone else. He has opposition from the creator of the game, the Toymaker [Stallone]. He also has to play the game by the rules or risk being eliminated from the game. He befriends several other gamers in the matrix of the game and they try to work together. According to game rules, he's allowed to bring in one outsider to assist him and he calls upon Grandpa Cortez [Montalban]. But it seems Grandpa and the Toymaker once knew each other…and Grandpa has a score to settle.

Where in the first film, the action was equally split between the adults and the kids, by this third installment, the movie is all about the kids. As a result, for the adults in the audience, there's really not much to hold our attention. Even top screen billers Banderas and Gugino as the parents of Juni and Carmen only have about 10 minutes of screen time. 

The actors do a passable job with the material they're given. Sabara and Vega play their characters as the heroes they are. Montalban is…well…Montalban. Smooth, suave but not very emotional-the same types of performances he's given in a range of other roles. Stallone I have mixed feelings about. As the villain, he wasn't much of a villain-more of a bumbling schizophrenic than evil mastermind. His comedic timing also left a lot to be desired, though the kids probably won't notice. In my opinion, many of the films best performances belong to the stars making cameos such as George Clooney and Elijah Wood [spoofing his Frodo role as "the One"]. Be sure to sit through the closing credits for a wickedly funny Clooney outtake.

As for the 3-D, I was really disappointed. My glasses were made with a dark red film and a light blue instead of both being light. As a result, my left eye could barely see the screen through the red and my right eye was doing all the work of viewing the effects. After about ten minutes, I had such a bad migraine starting that I had no choice but to take off my glasses for the rest of the movie. That wasn't much better as watching the 3-D affect without glasses results in everything having a red and blue blurry outline. I really think they should make a non-3-D version of this movie-especially since the effects I did see weren't very outstanding.

With Game Over, the Spy Kids franchise isn't exactly going out with a bang. The only thing I can think of is maybe Rodriguez had already turned his attention to the upcoming Once Upon A Time in Mexico [strangely starring a good portion of the adult actors in this movie]. But if you have younger kids who want to see this, it won't exactly be torture for you to sit through either. 
5 out of 10