“Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London” (MGM)
Frankie Muniz of “Malcolm In the Middle” fame had a pretty good hit with “Agent Cody Banks” which was released last year. But that movie had the added attraction of Angie Harmon and Hilary Duff as his co-stars. In the sequel, “Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London,” he has only Anthony Anderson on board to share the guilt. And boy is there a lot of guilt to go around.
Once again we get an adventure with teen CIA agent Cody Banks (Muniz). He is sent to London to track down a mind control machine. Anderson plays Derek, who is Banks handler in London. Derek is a bit of a bumbler as are all the spies in this movie.
Anyway Banks and Derek race around London tracking down the bad guys and making things safe in the world. Nothing really exciting happens and there aren’t any special, special effects to liven things up. It all just ends up being blah and boring.
Muniz seems to have only one expression and he uses that for all emotions. It is a wide-eyed type of stare and it is constantly on his face. His acting range appears to be just as limited.
Anderson has been funny in other films but this time out he is stuck with terrible material and he knows it. He just wanders through the film showing no excitement or enthusiasm. He doesn’t make the movie any worse; he just doesn’t make it any better.
Hannah Spearitt is cast as Cody’s latest crush. She is blonde like Hilary Duff, but that is where the resemblance ends. She and Muniz have no chemistry together. In fact she looks ten years older than he is.
The movie is rated PG for mild violence.
If ever a movie was destined to go quickly to DVD this one is it. All the charm of the first “Cody Banks” movie has been drained from this sequel. Plus the CIA excitement is MIA. In “Agent Cody Banks 2” Muniz is in the middle of a total disaster.
I scored “Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London” an I spy 3 out of 10.
