Plantiana Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Staci Frederick Blistering performances.

Isbel A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Steve Pulaski Agent Cody Banks, if not having the cheery, smiley cast that it wound up with, could've been an even more redundant spy flick than it already is. While mostly harmless, serving as a James Bond flick for the tween crowd, it's a rather safe affair, combining by-the-numbers storytelling and plot devices to create a film that will, predictably, entertain its target audience but bore their occupiers. That's not a fair trade-off in my book.The story concerns our title character, who is played by Frankie Muniz of TV's Malcolm in the Middle, a fifteen year old kid with a love for math, science, and spy equipment. He applies for a junior position at the CIA, only to be summoned by Agent Ronica Miles (Angie Harmon), who wants him to join an elite private school, attract the attention and form a friendship with teen-girl Natalie Connors (Hilary Duff) in order to find out more about her father Dr. Albert Connors (Martin Donovan). Dr. Connors may in fact be under manipulation by Dr. Brinkman (Ian McShane), a man attempting to create nanobots, which could effectively destroy any opposing force against him.The selling point here, of course, isn't the story but the idea. The idea that a fifteen year old could potentially save the world, take out an elite bad guy, get the girl, and avoid getting grounding by his parents. It's the kind of thing kids (think eight and younger) imagine before they go to sleep at night. They want to be as cool as Cody Banks and they want what he has. Whatever the plot that comes with a character this slick, cool, and relatable, they'll take it.The character Cody Banks works so much better as an idea and a marketing plea than as someone we see getting thrown into various obstacles and death-traps during the course of the film. Seeing him lumber his way through one monotonous setup after another gets tedious very quickly. It's nice to note that at least Muniz is a gifted screen presence, making the most archetypal caricature at least presentable. He is only assisted by the effervescent Hillary Duff, who may just be the perky blonde here but she's a perky blonde with a soul. That's a hard role to play in a film that doesn't allow for much coloring outside the lines.What makes Agent Cody Banks at least mildly entertaining are the actors and the buildup to the predictable but somewhat amusing finale. Clearly, two-thirds of the entire $28 million budget went into making the factory explosion look how it is. It may not be the most convincing factory explosion I've ever seen, but as far as factory explosions go, this one at least registers on the Richter Scale of competence - I forgot to mention that that it's an example of how corny the lines get in this film.The film rides off the coattails of adventure films like Spy Kids but with far less imagination and depth. Spy Kids had the benefit of being unpredictable in the world it set up and didn't ground itself to the kind of everyday reality we expected. It colored outside the lines, not really caring if its picture became "pretty" in the eyes of the viewer. Agent Cody Banks seems to only color outside the lines a little bit and then question if the viewer noticed.Let's call Agent Cody Banks exactly what it is, which is a direct-to-DVD, TV movie that was fortunate enough to be released theatrically. It bears everything that is the equivalent to a Disney Channel movie that airs at 7PM on Friday nights: a predictable script, thin and dopey characters, kiddy jokes that often fall flat, and only a somewhat enticing mystery. I'll return to my point that many kids will be amused by the story, while their adult caretakers will likely look at their watches more often than the screen. I probably would've been slightly more entertained by a tour of Agent Cody Banks' bedroom.Starring: Frankie Muniz, Hillary Duff, Angie Harmon, Ian McShane, and Martin McDonovan. Directed by: Harald Zwart.

Shevy1103 I realize this is a movie for kids, but it was the only decent thing on TV so I watched it. It was OK I guess, nothing more, nothing less. I don't remember much of it though.The acting by both Frankie Muniz and Hilary Duff was pretty good. The concept of the movie, or the plot if you will, was more than a bit unrealistic. Other than that the plot was good. I had a few laughs, there were some good action scenes, and some very good ones as well.As I said the acting was pretty good. Arnold Vosloo did a great job in the role of Molay, the bad guy. I think Mr. Vosloo might be born to play bad guys. I mean you see him in «The Mummy», «Chuck», «Blood Diamond». He is a natural! Anyhow, It is probably good enough for young teens, but I don't think it will be a big hit with other people. It gets 4 mediocre stars out of a possible 10 from me. See you later, alligator.Shevy

mbat19 Frankie Muiniz plays a secret agent teenager trained in all the ways of being a teenager except one - talking to girls. In what sounds like a Disney movie plot, he goes on a mission involving a pretty girl of course and has to learn on the job. The movie is what it is a movie for the younger tween crowd and fans of the malcom in the middle star and fans of Hilary Duff. It is not bad and is entertaining mindless fare that you can watch with your brains off with your kids. Just don't expect anything great. Muniniz and Duff do a pretty good job with the material and it is always good to see law and order veteran Angie Harmon .

karthik-globalsoul (Karthik Narayan) A kid becoming a Junior CIA Agent? That is surely something cute and worth watching – a teenager going beyond everyday problems of homework and cleaning their lockers and rooms and taking on higher problems like assassins, gangsters. Picture that at one end, and consider this for the other side of the story: CIA agents doing the kid's homework and house cleaning! The tagline for the movie says it all: save the world, get the girl, pass math… The whole theme is hilarious, Frankie Muniz (best known for his "Malcolm in the Middle" TV series) as Cody Banks is funny and down to earth. He is your average teenager, definitely not your super hero type and has this very normal issue of talking to girls (any teenaged boy's nightmare). Hillary Duff looks pretty as Cody's love interest and is cast purely for that, I guess, since she doesn't do much apart from looking cute.When a super villain plans to use a scientific invention to destroy the world, it is left to Agent Cody Banks to try and stop him. En route, he has to face his biggest challenge – overcome his shyness and ask a girl out. And it's not just any other girl – it's the daughter of the scientist who is on the good side but has been held captive.It's a special day in the office for Cody Banks and Co – with a beautiful partner, cool gizmos to work with and best of all, to get a pretty girl as a girlfriend! Any teenager's heaven, I am sure.The best part of the film is that it is a fresh concept, is funny, even though the baddies try to be extra bad. (Yeah, it's a tough world for baddies in kids' movies) plus its by a director (Harald Zwart) who, with all due respect to him, was a nobody in Hollywood before this film. Now he is "BANK"-ing on this movie franchise and is directing the next Pink Panther movie.The not so good part is that storyline is as predictable as it gets. Plus, some of the stunts are too much for a teenager to perform, and some parts are not explained at all. Overall, it felt like a Hollywood movie dished out in Bollywood style in some parts.A good kid's movie provided you watch it without thinking ahead of the plot.Rating: 6/10