"Do you think God stays in Heaven because He too lives in fear of what He's created?"
— Romero
Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams is a 2002 action comedy adventure film. It is the second film in the Spy Kids franchise, following the original Spy Kids movie.
Carmen and Juni Cortez are now Level 2 agents in the Spy Kids Division of the OSS (Organization of Super Spies). At the Troublemaker Theme Park, they rescue US President Anami's daughter, Alexandra, from a juggling thrill ride. The children of Donnagon Giggles (Mike Judge), Gary (Matt O'Leary) and Gerti (Emily Osment) get involved in the rescue and take all the credit.
At an OSS dinner event, President Anami names Donnagon as the director of the OSS (though it appears that the teleprompter was hacked). A group of Magna Men storm the event and steal the Transmooker device from the President, though the OSS spy kids try to stop them. Juni gets blamed for losing the device, and is suspended as an agent, though Carmen hacks into the OSS database to reinstate him and give them a new assignment, to investigate a mysterious island near Madagascar.
This film was followed by Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over.
Tropes in Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams:
- A Head at Each End: A sea serpent-like critter on the island's coast.
- All There in the Script: The script and novelization explain that Gary is only a Level 3 agent at the beginning of the film, which is never stated in the film itself. This adds a bit more context to his rivalry with Juni (he resents him for reaching Level 2 status before him), and also puts his promotion to Level 1 in an even more dubious light (he was allowed to skip an entire level due to his father's influence).
- Alliterative Name:
- Gary and Gertie Giggles.
- Alexandra Anami.
- Alphabet Architecture: The OSS headquarters is a huge glass building shaped like the letters "OSS".
- Anti-Climax: The apparent "climax" of is a Professional Wrestling style fight between Antonio Banderas and Mike Judge, complete with everyone else shouting advice from the sidelines.
- Any Last Words?: Said by Donnagon before he attempts to kill the Cortezes (save for Felix) using the real Transmooker.
- Ascended Extra: Donnagon, one of the agents transformed into Fooglie's in the previous film, is upgraded to Big Bad.
- Artistic License – Engineering: As part of a gag, the protagonists receive a pair of wristwatches that can do anything except tell time. "Anything" in this context includes the ability to access the Internet. But the fact that the watch can access the Internet means that it's a computer—and as anyone who knows anything about computers can tell you, it's impossible to have a functional computer without a clock.note
- Artistic License – History/Geography: The Island of Leeke Leeke is supposedly located somewhere off the coast of Madagascar, but anything man-made on the island (excluding Romero's hut) is clearly inspired by Aztec temples and buildings.
- Artistic License – Physics: The amount of G-Force the rides at Troublemaker Theme Park would produce in real life would be more than enough to give people severe whiplash, if not outright kill them, even despite Dinky Winks stating that the Juggler “goes as fast as the United States government allows it”. That’s not even accounting for the fact that the laws of gravity would almost certainly render a ride like the Juggler physically impossible.
- Awesome, but Impractical: To the point of being a Central Theme. The aforementioned wristwatches are premiere Gadget Watches but are so loaded with the necessary and required crap that there's no more room for a clock. Gary and Gerti also have watches, which can tell time, but are so huge they cover their entire forearms. Donnagon Giggle's office as the new head of the OSS is so huge that he has to hopscotch across precarious pillars over what is presumably a bottomless pit just to get to his desk, which is hugely contrasted to Gregorio's office, which is as simple an office as you can get.
- Ballroom Blitz: A party is held for the elite of the O.S.S. but during a toast, all the adults, including Gregorio and Ingrid, where drugged due to their drinks being spiked with sleepers and the party was attacked, forcing the children to fight back.
- Be the Ball: The Inflate-A-Suits become spherical when their wearer scans their chest area with his right hand.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: Romero and Donnagon are the film's main antagonists.
- Big Damn Heroes:
- After Gary and the slizzard have defeated Juni's spider monkey, the former taunts him about Carmen not being there to cheer him on. At this very moment, Carmen swings in on a vine and kicks Gary off the slizzard.
- During the Final Battle, Romero saves the Cortezes' life from Donnagon.
- Bittersweet Ending: The day is saved, Donnagon is defeated, and Romero has been redeemed. But the Cortezes share
a sad goodbye to him and the other residents of the island, as they hope someday he'll help them again. Making things sadder is the fact that Juni leaves the OSS over his mistreatment. - Blatant Lies: Romero says that mixing the species was an accident. The accompanying flashback shows him holding two vials and having a look that just screams "For Science!".
- Call a Pegasus a "Hippogriff": At one point Juni refers to the half gorilla, half tarantula creature that's been following him as a centaur. Its actual name seems to be a "spider monkey".
- Centrifugal Farce: The over-the-top amusement park rides are mainly of this type.
- Chekhov's Gun: the Machete Elastic Wonder that Uncle Machete gives the siblings. Carmen uses hers after accidentally powering up the transmooker device to keep the switches closed, while Juni opts to give his to Alexandra.
- Closer to Earth: The female members of the Giggles family are good; the male ones are evil.
- Collapsed Mid-Speech: An entire group of grown-ups pass out after giving a toast.
- Consulting a Convicted Killer: The kids call Floop and Minion to ask about dirty OSS agents.
- Dance Party Ending: In celebration for the defeat of Donnagon, Machete hosts a concert featuring Carmen (with a microphone which auto-tunes her voice, and a belt that helps her dance), and Juni (with a guitar that plays itself), with their family, the Giggles family, Floop, Minion, and Romero in attendance.
- Dem Bones: The skeleton warriors in the temple sequence, an homage to the skeletons in Jason and the Argonauts.
- Demoted to Extra: Machete, Minion, and Floop have supporting roles in this movie.
- Dirty Cop: Donnagon and Felix are this, which breaks Juni's faith in the OSS.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Donnagon loves his children, and is afraid of his wife.
- Eldritch Location: It’s a bit subdued, but still very much present for the Island of Leeke Leeke. Besides the giant animal hybrids everywhere, there are also caves that mute speech and allow for telepathic communication, as well as something that allows the skeletons of the dead to be animated and fight.
- Every Device Is a Swiss-Army Knife: Juni gets an experimental spy-watch with so many gadgets in it there was no room for an actual time-telling device.
- Exact Words: During Gregorio and Donnagon's fight, their sons cheer their fathers on, saying "Kick his butt". The fathers take the term literally and kick each other's butts, much to their sons' disappointment.
- Faceplanting into Food: At the party of O.S.S. elites, the adults' drinks are drugged, and they all fall unconscious during a toast. Several adults, including Juni and Carmen's parents, plant their faces into their plates of food.
- Fake-Out Opening: The first scene is the President's bratty daughter being shown around a wacky Amusement Park.
- Fearful Symmetry: Played for Laughs. Gregerio's and Donnagon's blows are so symmetrical that the fight ends up looking lame and painful, such as when they both try to suplex each other.
- Foreshadowing: Courtesy of Felix, "I said I'm not your uncle!"
- Girlish Pigtails: Gerti Giggles has these, which operate as Helicopter Hair.
- A Head at Each End: The sea serpent is built like this, although this isn't immediately obvious; it looks like two such creatures are individually menacing the siblings, until it punctures their Inflate-A-Suits and swims away.
- Human Ladder: Though not actually performed, this idea is suggested by Donnagon Giggles to his henchmen when they were trying to get the MacGuffin out of a high tree.
- I Can Change My Beloved: Carmen has a crush on the rival bad boy spy and at one point insists she could change him. She appears to get over it by the end of the movie.
- I Fell for Hours: Carmen and Juni reach the island's volcano, apparently bubbling with lava a long way down, and slip and fall into the volcano. Their fall is long enough that Juni is able to pull out a candy bar and start eating it, and the two eventually assume relaxed poses in midair. The whole thing was apparently an illusion.
- Inappropriate Hunger: Carmen and Juni reach the island's volcano, apparently bubbling with lava a long way down. They slip and fall into the volcano and fall for an extremely long time, long enough for Juni to pull out a candy bar and start eating it while still falling.Carmen: How could you be eating at a time like this?!
- Incredibly Lame Pun: Donnagon says, "This should be pain...and simple."
- Island Base: Romero is stationed on the Island of Leeke Leeke with his Mix-and-Match Critters.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Gary isn't exactly the nicest agent in the OSS (to only Juni, anyway). But at one point, he wasn't wrong in calling Carmen and Juni out on actually trusting someone, something that majorly goes against the spy code, even though the someone(s) in question they trust are their family, which Gary also points out that that doesn't matter.
- Karma Houdini: Subverted. Agent Donnagon for attempting to murder all the Cortezes, in that he only gets fired from being President of the OSS. Though he does have to answer to his wife for what he did.
- Not only that, but in the same movie it's implied that he's tried to take over the world more that once. And he's allowed to stay with the OSS.
- Kick the Dog: Gary squashes Ralph.
- Lighter and Softer: Even more so than the already light first film, as it tones down the first film's bizarre and nightmarish imagery and elements and focuses more on the whimsical elements. Though, in a way, it is also a downplayed example as the original film was aleady this for Robert Rodriguez's entire film slate up until that point, being an unusually family-friendly film for him.
- Literal Surveillance Bug: Ralph is a small robot bug who's primary function serves as a spy.
- MacGuffin: The Transmooker, which can interfere with electronic devices.
- Mad Scientist: Romero.
- Magic Feather: In The Stinger, Carmen and Juni both state they have no musical talent, so Machete gives them gadgets to enhance their performance. After they deliver a smash hit show, Machete realises he didn't put any batteries in them, meaning that the performance was all on the kids.
- Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Subverted. Carmen is attracted to Gary Giggles, insisting that she could "change him", and her giving up on this is played as Character Development. Needless to say, shipping ensued anyway.
- Meeting-the-Parents Sequel: Ingrid's parents are introduced.
- Mundane Solution: The Machete Elastic Wonder (a rubber band).
- My Grandma Can Do Better Than You: When Donnagon and Gregorio fight one another for the Transmooker device, during the fight, his wife Ingrid tells him to do the Suplex. He does, but it ends up rather hilarious. Then, Helga groans that she could do better than that.
- Pink Means Feminine: Alexandra wears a pink sweater and then a pink dress.
- Pun-Based Creature: Romero's Mix-and-Match Critters are named after animal puns or portmanteaus. Juni befriends a Spider Monkey, a centaur-like creature with a primate's upper body and a spider's lower body. Other animals named after puns include a catfish (a cat with a fish's head and tailfin), a tiger shark (a tiger with a shark's head and fin), a horse-fly (a horse with a fly's head and wings) and a bullfrog (a bull with the hind legs of a frog).
- Reality-Changing Miniature: Inverted. The model of the Island of Leeke Leeke shows where all the Mix-and-Match Critters currently are, by causing their miniature critters to roam where the big ones are. Holograms show the presence of other humans on the island, hence how Romero can see Gary and Gerti.
- Real Men Wear Pink: Juni claims to know ballet to impress Alexandria at the President's ball. Hilarity Ensues when the two start dancing.
- Recycled Soundtrack: In addition to the score specifically created for this film, some musical cues from the first movie are recycled.
- Reverse Polarity: Gerti disables the amusement park ride in the opening by reversing the polarity, justifying it by saying that the ride works using electromagnets.
- Shoe Phone: Juni gets an advanced watch that does everything except tell time, since "there was no room left for the clock". Needless to say, The Rival has a more advanced version of the same device (albeit still a prototype), with a clock.
- Shout-Out:
- Juni starts to chant the One Ring poem when he reaches for a cursed necklace.
- Just before that, Carmen picks up the idol from the iconic beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark before tossing it aside.
- The skeleton warriors in the same scene bear a striking resemblance to the ones in Jason and the Argonauts.
- Sigil Spam: The OSS logo is everywhere.
- Slipping a Mickey: During the OSS banquet, the adults' champagne, including those of Gregorio and Ingrid, is spiked with sleepers, and the moment they drink it, they end up falling asleep and the party is attacked, forcing the children to fight back.
- Spider People: The spidermonkey is half-spider, half-gorilla.
- Spot the Thread: Juni is suspicious when a party attendant offers him alcohol. He's underage, and obviously so. The alcohol turns out to be drugged.
- Sudden Musical Ending: In The Stinger, Carmen sings the song "Isle of Dreams".
- The Stinger: For some reason Carmen has to convince everyone she's a pop-star instead of an undercover secret agent.
- Swiss-Army Weapon: Juni gets a spy watch said to be able to do basically anything except tell time. Turns out it's literal - an "upgraded" prototype version could only tell time after being upscaled into what can only be described as a gauntlet.
- Taking the Bullet: Subverted. Donnagon is about to use the Transmooker to destroy Ingrid's parents, and Gregorio dives between them. The Transmooker malfunctions however thanks to Gerti actually sabotaging it, so nobody dies.
- Temporary Substitute: Devlin doesn't appear since a new director for OSS is chosen to replace him, and is in fact, never even mentioned. In the third film he reappears as the president of the United States. While in the film it's explained that after retiring from his position in the OSS, he ran for president as he wanted to be in a position of power that was public instead of the secret one he previously held, the real life reasoning is that Rodriguez couldn't afford to have George Clooney on screen for more than three minutes of screentime.
- Tropical Island Adventure: The majority of the movie takes place on the titular tropical island, located near Madagascar.
- Volcano Lair: Romero lives inside the island's volcano.
- Wall Crawl: Juni and Carmen use a gadget that's essentially magnetic fingers to rescue Alexandria. Gary and Gerti use more traditional rappels.
- Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Gary, when Carmen turns on him.
