There seems to be no major reason to make this film but to create an animation version of Will Smith, playing a Bond-like superspy, wearing a tuxedo and carrying a bunch of cool weapons.
Spies In Disguise, directed by Nick Bruno and Troy Quane, uses the familiar trope of two unlikely men getting into crazy adventures. Lance Sterling (Smith) is the spy who always wins and returns to swooning fans at the workplace. Walter Bennett (Tom Holland) is a low-level nerd, working on espionage gadgets, but actually inventing strange gizmos that would take the violence out of warfare; stuff like an ‘inflatable hug’ and a glitter bomb (glitter makes people happy.)
When Lance is targeted by a villain called Killian with a robohand (Ben Mendelsohn), he has to be on the run from his own department. Walter gives him a ‘biodynamic concealment’ potion he has been working on, and when Lance glugs it, he turns into a bright blue pigeon. He grumbles continuously, though being a pigeon gives him the kind of access into villains’ dens that he could not have had as a human.
The film has imaginative animation, and some funny gags, but there’s only this much that can be done with a tousle-headed geek and a bug-eyed pigeon in the odd couple zone. Interestingly, Lance is being pursued by a grim female spy (Rashida Jones), who believes he has joined the dark side. Killian’s aim is to steal data about all the secret agents (presumably American) — which does not seem like particularly lethal plan for world domination!
There is some throwaway criticism of America’s destructive ways and Walter’s wish for a peace and kindness, but mostly Lance is fending off other pigeons, including Bennett’s amorous pet called Lovey — in his pursuit of Killian.
Not sharp enough as a spy movie lampoon, and deliberately silly to appeal to kids, Spies In Disguise is mildly amusing at best, but there is a franchise possibility built in — if a man can be turned into a pigeon and back, the possibilities are endless.
