The film stars Alexa Vega, Daryl Sabara, Danny Trejo, Antonio Banderas, Carla Gugino, Alan Cumming, Teri Hatcher, Cheech Marin, Robert Patrick, and Tony Shalhoub.
[5] Gregorio and Ingrid Cortez are spies with two children, Carmen and Juni, whom they shield from their lives to protect them from inherent danger.
Gregorio suspects children's television host Fegan Floop has kidnapped them, mutating them into his "Fooglies" – creatures on his show, a program that Juni avidly watches.
Gregorio and Ingrid are captured by Floop's "Thumb-Thumbs" (robots whose arms, legs, and heads resemble oversized thumbs) and taken to his castle.
The project was scrapped as being too dangerous and many scientists demolished the brains that they were working on, but Gregorio refused to destroy the final prototype.
She realizes too late the bracelet from Gradenko has a tracking device, and she and Juni are attacked by their robot counterparts, who steal the Third Brain and fly away.
Meanwhile, back at the castle, Gregorio tells Ingrid that Minion used to work for the OSS, but was fired after he reported him tampering with the Third Brain project.
Minion has different plans and takes over, locking Floop inside his "virtual room", the chamber where he films his television series.
Carmen and Juni receive reluctant help from Gregorio's estranged brother Isador "Machete" Cortez when they show up at his spy shop.
Robert Rodriguez's first family-oriented production was the short film Bedhead (1991); since the release of El Mariachi (1992) a year later, he desired to make the same type of full-length family features as he experienced in his childhood.
After reading the script, he met Rodriguez and his wife Elizabeth Avellán, and was shown concept drawings of designs and animations for the actor to get an idea of the style of the film.
[9] When acting, Shalhoub's experience of reading books and playing with his kids enabled him to view Rodriguez's child-like scenarios from the perspective of his children.
[10] The distorted heads growing out of Alexander Minion when mutated by the machines were gel molded by Rodriguez and, according to Shalhoub, very lightweight.
The closing theme, "Spy Kids (Save the World)", is performed by the Los Angeles indie pop band, Fonda.
Formalized thanks to the successes of Spy Kids and Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), the deal stated annually, and for five films, Pop Secret popcorn would be present at theater screenings and as tie-ins for video releases.
[13] Former promotion executive vice president at Miramax Films, Lori Sale, admitted the McDonalds tie-ins for the first three Spy Kids were the three best of the company.
Spy Kids opened theatrically in 3,104 venues on March 30, 2001, earning $26.5 million in its first weekend and ranking first in the North American box office.
[18] It held the number one spot for three weeks before being toppled by the second weekend earnings of Bridget Jones's Diary, which was also released by Miramax Films.
Spy Kids is an intelligent, upbeat, happy movie that is not about the comedy of embarrassment, that does not have anybody rolling around in dog poop, that would rather find out what it can accomplish than what it can get away with".
[22] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote: "It's entertaining and inoffensive, a rare combination in kids' films, which are usually neither".
[23] Lael Loewenstein of Variety observed: "A full-blown fantasy-action adventure that also strenuously underscores the importance of family, Spy Kids is determined to take no prisoners in the under-12 demographic, a goal it sometimes dazzlingly achieves.
[9] Vulture writer Iana Murray positively described Spy Kids, with oddities like the Thumb-Thumbs, as an example of an era where films "could just be weird without having to explain themselves".