Robert Rodriguez/John Debney - Spy Kids 2 / O.S.T. (CD)

All Music Guide

Not many movies boast scores composed by their directors, but Spy Kids and its sequel, Spy Kids 2, are among the few that can stake this claim. As with the music for the first film, Spy Kids 2's score was co-written by director Robert Rodriguez and John Debney, who take a very playful, stylized, Danny Elfman-esque approach, infusing it with Latin twists on pieces like "Spy Ballet," rock energy on "Magna Men," and electronic whimsy on "R.A.L.P.H." Alan Cumming's wonderfully theatrical vocals grace "Floop's Dream," while Carmen Cortez (aka actress Alex Vega) performs "Isle of Dreams," an unusual and mostly successful mix of Latin pop, teen pop, and alt-rock. Tracks such as "Escape From DragonSpy," "Aztec Treasure Room," and "Skeletons" are suitably tense, and while the score itself isn't particularly unique, but Rodriguez's level of involvement -- he even created an orchestra, the Texas Philharmonic, to record this music -- certainly is.

- Heather Phares, All Music Guide