Spies in disguise

— Walter Beckett Spies in Disguise is an animated spy comedy film loosely based on the short Lance Sterling (Smith) is the world's greatest spy, who successfully accomplishes even the most dangerous missions with suave and a ready quip. Socially awkward genius Walter Beckett (Holland) is a tech geek whose bizarre, non-lethal gadgets make him a running joke in the agency. An unexpected event forces them to rely on each other in order to save the world, but there's one small problem... namely, Lance accidentally turned himself into a pigeon as a result of one of Walter's inventions. On a somber note, this ended up being Blue Sky's final completed film before Disney shuttered the studio in April 2021. This film’s directors, Nick Bruno and Troy Quane, would later go on to direct Previews: , , . This film provides examples of: • • • • • This isn't the • When Marcy found out about Lance turning into a pigeon as the main reason she wasn't able to track him down during her pursuit against him, she goes into a laughing fit before noting how messed up that is. • • • When Killian lost his crew, he went from being a generic spy villain to taking up a vendetta to bring down Lance personally and destroy all he held dear. • Lance and Walter are reinstated into the agency to do things Walter's style, and are last seen doing a mission together using Walter's gadgets. • • • • even though it is revealed that, due to using a feather taken from Lovey in the transformative elixir, Lance as a pi...

And sure, you could enjoy the film from Blue Sky Animation—the studio behind the “ Granted, animated movies take several years to develop. The folks behind “Spies in Disguise” couldn’t have known how polarized we’d be as a society when they started working on the film. (And their movie is actually inspired by a 2009 short cleverly titled “Pigeon: Impossible”.) It’s hard to ignore the fact that Smith’s Lance Sterling views fighting fire with fire as his primary option when approaching global supervillains, while Holland’s pacifist tech expert Walter Beckett likes to create bombs that release glitter and “aww”-inducing images of kittens into the air. He wants to use his scientific mind to bring folks together rather than pull them apart. At one point, Walter even says, “There’s no good guys or bad guys. Just people.” And guess whose philosophy wins out in the end? Seems like a pretty clear message, or at least a relevant and necessary one. Tying it all together, though, is a pretty standard, globetrotting spy tale featuring exotic locations, cool vehicles and gadgets, over-the-top action sequences and mismatched buddy antics. There are plenty of pratfalls for the youngest viewers to enjoy even before Lance becomes a winged version of himself. But it takes a little while for the film’s pacing to get going, and only really kicks into gear after Lance finds himself framed for treason while on a mission in Japan. He turns to Walter, the underling he’d dismissed, who also happens...

Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that Spies in Disguise is an animated buddy comedy featuring the voices of Will Smith as Lance Sterling, a Bond-like American superspy, and Tom Holland as Walter Beckett, a gadget-happy inventor. After Lance accidentally drinks Walter's invisibility concoction and is turned into a pigeon,… a lot Promotes nonviolent (or at least nonlethal) means of negotiating and stopping criminals. Also focuses on need for teamwork and accepting that others' skills and talents can help, not hurt, you. Walter and Lance's growing partnership shows that co-workers and friends don't need to be alike to get along or work well together. • Positive Role Models Lots of action sequences and weapons-based violence between Lance and his targets. A frightening villain plans to kill all agents. People are shot at, captured, knocked unconscious; some life-or-death scenes in which it looks like all is (almost) lost. Physical comedy. A parent dies (off-screen, but the emotional impact is felt). Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide. Close • Sex, Romance & Nudity Lots of flirting from Walter's pet pigeon, Lovey, to Lance (in pigeon form). She keeps fluffing up her feathers and sidling up to him; he responds by pushing her away or saying "Not now, girl." Nonsexual nudity: Kimura's naked backside is visible and shown for a while when he emerges from the bath. Lance looks down into his pants a...

Super spy Lance Sterling and scientist Walter Beckett are almost exact opposites. Lance is smooth, suave and debonair. Walter is not. But what Walter lacks in social skills he makes up for in smarts and invention, creating the awesome gadgets Lance uses on his epic missions. But when events take an unexpected turn, Walter and Lance suddenly have to rely on each other in a whole new way. And if this odd couple can't learn to work as a team, the whole world is in peril. Show More • Rating: PG (Rude Humor|Action|Violence) • Genre: Kids & family, Comedy, Adventure, Action, Animation • Original Language: English • Director: • Producer: • Writer: • Release Date (Theaters): Dec 25, 2019 wide • Release Date (Streaming): Dec 27, 2019 • Box Office (Gross USA): $66.7M • Runtime: 1h 42m • Distributor: 20th Century Fox • Production Co: Twentieth Century Fox Animation, Chernin Entertainment, Blue Sky Studios • Sound Mix: Dolby Digital, Dolby Atmos, DTS • Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1) Spies in Disguise has a genuinely interesting methodology put forth revolving around the core ideals of teamwork, and non-lethal measures. Or at least it has that in the opening 5 minutes and closing 10. In between it has a pigeon instead. I don't mean "The pigeon thing is so ridiculous that it distracts from it", I mean they drop it altogether for the lion's share of the runtime because "WILL SMITH VOICES A PIGEON HAHAHA!" And sure those early concepts were laid on a little heavy while they were there, but ...