Spy School
By Buzz McClain -- Video Business, 12/1/2008
SCREEN MEDIA/UNIVERSALStreet: Jan. 20
Prebook: Dec. 23
> Family film misses the grade.
Spy School’s plot kicks in at the mid-way point when a famously fabricating student (Forrest Landis) stumbles upon a plot to kidnap the President’s daughter. There’s much wheel-spinning as his family and friends—AnnaSophia Robb (Bridge to Terabithia), D.L. Hughley (The Hughleys), Lea Thompson—refuse to believe him, until it’s nearly too late. A mild homage to the Spy Kids franchise, this one is aimed at school-age children. It’s up against such inventively zany and energetic TV shows as iCarly and The Wizards of Waverly Place—but it lacks their wit and zip.
Shelf Talk: Spy School’s box art, which depicts its skateboarding star being chased by a helicopter in front of the White House, will remind consumers of the popular Spy Kids series. Screen Media will help with a national consumer print campaign and video trade advertising.
Family, color, PG (brief smoking), 88 min., DVD $24.98Extras: none
Director: Mark Blutman
First Run: DVD premiere