Movie review: 'Spies in Disguise'.

So when it comes to animated movies, it's not exactly a secret that I'm a pretty big fan of these movies. I genuinely like these films in the genre and do my best to watch pretty much every animated movie that has gotten even remotely decent reviews. 

After all, for me watching animated films is something that gives me hope as a person. Watching these films helps me to forget my usual worries and allows me to become something else while I get immersed in these captivating stories.

So naturally, when I noticed that there was a new animated film out there called 'Spies in Disguise', I had to give it a chance. I thought that I had to watch the film, even though its premise of a 'secret agent becoming a pigeon' sounded pretty silly.

Having now seen the movie with my friend last week, I have to say that, I was pleasantly surprised by the overall quality of the film. The movie managed to be surprisingly entertaining and funny, even though I had my doubts about it at first.

So when it comes it to the story in the film, the plot in it is admittedly fairly basic. We have a nerdish 10-year old kid inventor coming up with his gadgets and hoping that one day he would manage to join the law enforcement / intelligence community. 

Not surprisingly, once the kid (voiced by Tom Holland) grows up, he finds himself being a scientist in this MI6-like organization inventing stuff. He works as one of the assistants for the super secret agent (Will Smith) who has managed to save the world again and again.

Later on, as the agent gets framed for a crime that he didn't commit and needs help, our scientist helps with the invention that he came up with. Together they go on a journey (the agent as a pigeon) and manage to save the day.

Quality-wise, the real reason that the movie works is because the writers manage to do a good job with script even though the premise just isn't that plausible or strong. It's really a positive surprise how well the story beats work in the film.

After all, as I watched the movie, I couldn't help but to notice that they did a lot of right decisions with the script. These decisions, like making the chasing team (semi antagonist) making rational decisions etc. really elevated the movie to another level.

In that sense, when it comes to 'Spies in Disguise' as a whole, even though this isn't the greatest animated film ever, I had no problems being entertained by it. There's really tons of good things happening in the film structure-wise.

After all, even though the basic idea of a 'secret agent transforming into a pigeon' isn't strong, the rest of the story somehow works. I was pleasantly surprised how the writers managed to make the right decisions story- and character-wise as the film kept going on.

In that sense, if you haven't seen 'Spies in Disguise' yet, I think it's safe to say that you should probably give it a chance. You should watch the film (75% fresh by critics and 92% fresh by the audience at Rottentomatoes.com) at some point.

After all, even though the film isn't that well known and didn't do that well at the box-office (only 166 million dollars world-wide) that's not all there is to it. You shouldn't give up on it based on its lacklustre commercial performance.

On the contrary, when it all is said and done, the film does work well. It works and shows that just because your premise isn't strong, the story can still work, as long as your writers know what they're doing and as long as they are willing to take their jobs seriously.