Bob Ho (Jackie Chan) takes on his toughest assignment yet when he babysits his girlfriend’s kids. Check out all the mayhem in Kidzworld’s review of The Spy Next Door.
Bob Ho (Jackie Chan) takes on his toughest assignment yet when he babysits his girlfriend’s kids. Check out all the mayhem in Kidzworld’s review of The Spy Next Door.
The Spy Next Door Movie Rating:
Bob Ho is a Chinese spy who tries to retire from the CIA when he falls in love with a widow with three kids. Unfortunately, Bob has one case left to solve before he can settle into his new domestic role. He also faces some challenges from Gilian’s kids. Let’s not pull any punches: Farren, Ian and Nora hate Bob. The kids don’t know about Bob’s secret job, they think he’s just a pen salesman so when Gillian leaves them in Bob’s care, he gets his hands full juggling the kids with his final spy assignment.
Spying Is Easy, Babysitting Is Hard
Bob struggles with the kids until he rigs up some spywear to ease the babysitting duties—including a grappler pen that shoots out a rope to snag fleeing brats! But just when Bob starts to relax, Ian (played by Will Shadley) accidentally downloads a top-secret formula from Bob’s computer and some nasty Russian spies come a’ calling. Bob enlists the help of the kids to help fight the oil-obsessed bad guys, and ends up winning their trust in the process.
The Bottom Line
Arnie and Vin have executed this set-up better in Kindergarten Cop and The Pacifier, but Jackie Chan has a good rapport with the kids and while his stunts aren’t as sprightly as they used to be—the guy is 55!—Chan still manages to goof it up with some physical comedy. The food fights and ridiculous spy gadgets will get a couple laughs but wait for the outtakes at the end of the movie for the real payoff—it’s worth it just to hear Jackie say, “I hate English.”
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