This Isn't What It Looks Like: Secret Series, Book 4

This Isn't What It Looks Like: Secret Series, Book 4 by Pseudonymous Bosch

Cass is in a coma. She tried to consume chocolate to travel back in time to find the secret. Max-Ernest's parents are now in love again, so much so that they ignore him and are expecting a second child. Max-Ernest is trying to figure out a way to get to her mind as well as deal with other challenges in the world. There is a renaissance fair (both "real" and modern.) There are also Junior High kids being junior high kids. People look in the minds and in the past. It is time travel, but is it? The book also has random commercial interjections, including an "if you liked this, you would also like" section. There was double monocle that gave each bearer special powers. (It may include mind reading or x-ray.)  Owen appears in a weird disguise - again. At times I got lost figuring out what the goal of the characters was, but the way it was carried out made it fun. 

Zootopia

The trailer for Zootopia shown during Star Wars stood out as being the one that didn't have a single person save the world from blowing up. It also made the movie look extremely boring. (Slow talking sloths do not a fun movie make.) However, it was misleading on both counts. Almost. We do have a single bunny that is off the save the world. And the movie was quite entertaining. The plot centers around a society of animals that no longer divides themselves into predators and prey. (How do they eat? That is an awfully large population of vegetarians!) The society sets itself up for plenty of visual humor. There are trains with multiple size doors and a fox that runs a racket by melting down elephant popsicles to make multiple rodent size ones. There is also a chase into a "rodent town" and plenty of other great bits of visual humor.

The theme is that you can do anything that you want and should not fall victim to predefined stereotypes. These stereotypes come from multiple different sides, with even the oppressed finding they are holding views that limit what their supposed oppressors can do. It does a good job of bringing out the theme without trying to attack any individual group.

In the end, the bunny saves the day by uncovering a plot for one group to obtain power by using a plant extract to make animals "wild". In the end, the bad guys are busted, an antidote is made, and an animal sings the catchy song. Make the animals out of legos and it could pass as the next Lego Movie.

Spy Kids

The Spy Kids movies must have been a blast to make. They manage to great for kids, while still being intelligent enough for adults. It can use over-the-top humor with all sorts of crazy gadgets that make things fun.

Spy Kid's II: Island of Dreams starts with the trademark "over-the-top" spy scene. In this case, it takes place in an amusement park with ridiculous rides. The president's daughter is there, and manages to escape from the ride - with a device that can destroy the world. The lead Spy Kids (Carmen and Juni Cortez) attempt to save her. However, "Garry and Gerti", a second group of OSS spy kids are sent as backup. The kids (and their families) end up competing the entire movie. They work as a family, solving regular family issues - only they happen to deal with the destruction of the world. (Gerti has a great line at the end, mentioning that Dad will be so in trouble with mom for trying to take over the world again.) In the movie, they have all sorts of gadgets (including a watch that does everything - except tell time.) However, it is the lowly rubber-band that is most valuable. The main spy caper involves a Jurassic Park-like island with minaraturized and bizarro animals. ("horse-fly", "spider-monkey", etc.) All of elements were very well carried out, bizarre enough to be funny, but consistent enough to feel real. This is one of the best movies I've seen in a while.

Spy Kids 3: Game Over follows the same formula as the others. It was well done, though not quite as good as the second movie. In this movie, the kids travel inside a video game to try to prevent the "Gamemaker" from taking over the world. In the game, everyone adopts their "gaming id", thus the real "cool" guys in the game often end up being nerds in real life.

Spy Kids 4: All The Time in the World was released almost a decade later. The original kids are grown up, and some new kids are part of the "reboot". It has many of the Spy Kids trademarks, but overall was not as good. I recalled Roger Ebert's review of the original Spy Kids movie. He enjoyed the movie and complimented its ability to be humourous a "Family" without resorting to vulgarity. Alas, in Spy Kids 4 we get barf-bag and diaper bombs. I had seen this one before seeing the other Spy Kids movies. I thought it was good at the time. However, after seeing the others, I realize that it doesn't come close to the high bar set. The appearance of the adult Carmen and Juni seems contrived. While they play a key roll in the movie, their acting is flat.

Overall, the entire series is a great example of building well made stories out of imagination that is as crazy as possible while still being believable.