Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams (PG)
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Caution: potential spoilers.

This is the first sequel to Spy Kids. First I want to say that most (but not all) websites refer to this as "The Island of Lost Dreams", and that's what it was called on movie posters, but onscreen it just said "Island of Lost Dreams", so that's what I'm calling it. No "the". Anyway, it came out in 2002, but I didn't see it until 2021. I didn't like it as much as the first movie, but it was okay.

The OSS now has a full division of spy kids. At the start of the movie, Carmen and Juni try to rescue the President's daughter, Alexandra (Taylor Momsen), from the top of an amusement park ride. But another pair of spy kids, Gary Giggles and his younger sister Gerti (Emily Osment) compete with them to do so. Juni is the one to rescue Alexandra, but Gary gets all the credit, because he obtained a top secret device called the Transmooker, which Alexandra had earlier stolen from her father's office. (She just wants to get his attention, feeling he's had no time to act as her father since he became President.)

Later, there's a ceremony in which Gregorio expects to be named the new director of the OSS. But at the last moment, as the President is announcing the new director, his teleprompter is hacked and the name on it changed to Donnagon Giggles (Mike Judge), who is Gary and Gerti's father. Then all the adult spies in the room fall asleep during a toast to the new director, as their champagne was drugged. A group of henchmen (called Magna Men) dressed as waiters steal the Transmooker, while the spy kids all try to get it back. Gary and Juni end up fighting over the device, which results in it being lost to the Magna Men. Juni is blamed for this, and gets fired. Gary and Gerti are given the mission to retrieve the Transmooker, which has been taken to a mysterious island called Leeke Leeke. But Carmen hacks into the OSS database to reinstate Juni, and give the two of them the mission instead of the Giggles kids.

On the island, they encounter a number of giant monsters, and eventually meet the man responsible for their existence, Romero (Steve Buscemi). (A lot of sources refer to Romero as one of the antagonists of the movie, but actually he was never anything but helpful to Carmen and Juni.) Anyway, the spies can't use any of their gadgets, because on the island is the larger prototype of the Transmooker, which disables anything electrical. (It had also disabled the kids' submarine before they reached the island.) Eventually Gary and Gerti show up and race Carmen and Juni to get across the island to the prototype Transmooker. The Cortez kids want to destroy it, before it can fall into the hands of the Magna Men and their leader (whose identity I won't spoil, but it's not really surprising). The Giggles kids want to protect it. At one point Juni and Gary each team up with one of the monsters to battle each other. Meanwhile, Gregorio and Ingrid track their kids to the island to rescue them. They are unexpectedly joined by Ingrid's parents, who are retired OSS agents (played by Ricardo Montalban and Holland Taylor).

Beyond that I guess I don't want to reveal anything more of the plot. It all somehow felt a bit less entertaining to me than the original, and I'm not sure why. Certainly the movie had its share of good points. I suspect my mild depression may have played a part in dampening my ability to appreciate the movie. But then again, that's always with me, and I still manage to like other movies more than I did this one. So, probably it's fair to say that the overall plot was a bit weak compared to the original. But it was still definitely worth watching. (Oh, and I still have no idea why the title refers to Leeke Leeke as the "island of lost dreams". There's nothing in the movie about lost dreams, as far as I could tell.) And there are bonus scenes and bloopers throughout the closing credits.