Mr. Movie: ‘Spies in Disguise’ is one only kids will like

“Spies in Disguise” has unseated “Missing Link” as the most disappointing animated movie of the year. Will Smith gives voice to Lance Sterling. He’s the best spy in the world and also the most arrogant. Sterling’s braggadocio is blunted when an enemy spy has learned how to get his face to look like Sterling and Sterling gets accused of committing crimes against the country.

To save himself, he ends up having to partner up with Walter Beckett. He’s voiced by Spider-Man’s Tom Holland. Beckett has a formula that can help Sterling. Things backfire when he swallows a different formula. It alters his DNA and turns him into a pigeon.

As a bird, it’s hard to save the world.

Considering the vocal talent — Smith, Holland, Reba McEntire, Rashida Jones and Jumanji’s Karen Gillan — you’re expecting a bit more. Then when you look at the fine print, the film is written by Brad Copeland who penned the awful “Yogi Bear” and Lloyd Taylor who helped write the equally horrible, “The Wild.”

What made me hopeful about “Spies in Disguise” is that Copeland picked up a Prime Time Emmy nomination for his work on TV’s “Arrested Development.”

Instead of something packed with unpredictable laughs, Copeland and Taylor give us a bird-brained plot that has nowhere even remotely fun to go. Really young kids — who like about anything — will find it entertaining but the rest of us will compare it to pigeon poop.

▪ Rated PG for mature themes. It’s playing at the Fairchild Cinemas Southgate 10, Pasco 12 and Queensgate 12, at the AMC Classic Kennewick 12 and at Walla Walla Grand Cinemas.

▪ Rating: 1 out of 5

This story was originally published December 25, 2019 at 4:43 AM with the headline "Mr. Movie: ‘Spies in Disguise’ is one only kids will like."