As a wild stallion travels across the frontiers of the Old West, he befriends a young human and finds true love with a mare.

Spun is an unclassifiable ensemble piece, intentionally bleached of soulfulness and high on visual invention and comic depravity. Set in northern Los Angeles, where meth freaks lurch from one motel room to another in search of companionship and a score, the film stars Jason Schwartzman as Ross, whose life is rapidly disintegrating. Fielding phone messages from his mother and trying in vain to reach an old girlfriend, Ross spends most of his time on a feverish circuit with the half-mad Cookie (Mena Suvari) and Nikki (Brittany Murphy), the dangerously paranoid Spider Mike (John Leguizamo), and a macho drugmaker called the Cook (Mickey Rourke). Director Jonas Akerlund's story is non-existent, but then again Spun is driven by the blurry, hellish energy of a life lived on speed. An obvious influence is Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream, but Akerlund is interested in nightmarish set pieces than tiny horrors of misfired nerve endings and ravaged time. --Tom Keogh

Spy Kids is a James Bond adventure for wee ones, with all the trimmings. This affable fantasy begins with Carmen and Juni Cortez soon to find out that their favourite bedtime story, "The Spies Who Fell in Love", is really the story of their parents. When Dad and Mom (Antonio Banderas and Carla Gugino) mess up their first mission after coming out of retirement, their kids must come to the rescue, equipped with some cool gadgets. The Cortez family gets involved in a bizarre plot hatched by a Pee-wee Herman-type entertainer named Fegan Floop (a wonderfully hammy Alan Cumming) that's as giddy as it is ridiculous. Needless to say there is plenty of derring-do concerning long-lost uncles, goofy monsters, double agents, evil robots, look-alikes, and energised chases. Did we mention the gadgets? Although Banderas and Gugino make terrific impressions, the movie is carried (as it should be) by the younger Cortezes, winningly played by Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara. Who would have thought an action/horror studio (Dimension) and writer-director Robert Rodriquez had this pleasing family film u p their sleeves? Rodriquez (who produced with his wife Elizabeth Avellán) seemed to be mired in cheesy horror films but here breaks out by capitalising on the talent that gave him instant status with his debut, El Mariachi (1992). Spy Kids has plenty of verve but never swerves into potty humour (OK, there is one good potty joke) or wicked gunplay. All 7-year-olds should have a film as fun as this in their film-going lives. --Doug Thomas, Amazon.com

If you liked the original, then Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams is more of the same, with perhaps a touch less heart and a stretch more scale. The Cortez Family are back in action, with dad (Antonio Banderas) annoyed not to get the job as head of his spy organisation, mum (Carla Gugino) stuck with her overbearing and meddling spy parents (Ricardo Montalban is fun as her father) and kids Juni (Daryl Sabara) and Carmen (Alexa Vega) coming second to a new, nastier pair of spy siblings, the Giggles kids.

The story is negligible, with an evil spymaster plotting to use a device that neutralises all electrical gadgets everywhere, and the nice idea of paying homage to those Ray Harryhausen adventures with big hybrid monsters (a spider-legged monkey fights a cobra-headed lizard, sword-wielding skeletons feature in a lost temple scene) is slightly undermined by the use of flat-looking CGI rather than proper model work. But there's a nice bit from Steve Buscemi as a paranoid mad scientist and director-writer-editor Robert Rodriguez, who makes these films between more grown-up action pictures (Desperado, From Dusk Till Dawn), can stage a stunt better than most. --Kim Newman

On the DVD: Spy Kids 2 is a nicely presented disc with fun menus and informative extras. The most interesting is Rodriguez's "Ten Minute Film School" which offers an easy-to-follow explanation of the digital effects. The director's commentary is also upbeat and full of useful information. As you would expect of an action spectacular such as this, the sound and visual aspects are superb. --Nikki Disney

The third and final Spy Kids movie from the talented writer/director Robert Rodriguez. Mum and Dad are spies, but so too are their kids - and together they must bring down the evil Toymaker. Tongue in cheek fun and action for all the family.