The film was released in the United States on March 12, 2004, and grossed $29 million worldwide, against its $26 million budget.[1] The film received generally mixed to negative reviews from critics.
Plot
Agent Cody Banks (Frankie Muniz) attends summer camp, which is actually a secret training facility for undercover teenage agents in the CIA. When a group of soldiers attempt to abduct head counselor Victor Diaz, Cody helps him escape, mistaking the CIA operation for a training exercise. The CIA director informs Cody that Diaz stole disks containing plans for a secret mind-control device, and sends Cody to recapture him.
In the United Kingdom, Cody poses as a summer orchestra student at the Kenworth estate to spy on owner Lord Duncan Kenworth, suspected of working with Diaz, supported by his handler, Derek (Anthony Anderson) and Kumar (Rod Silvers), Derek's right-hand man, who are disguised as a chef hired by Lady Josephine Kenworth and a taxi driver respectively. Whilst keeping his mission a secret from his fellow students, Cody sneaks around the estate and confirms that Diaz and Duncan are working together and that they have a working prototype of the mind control device.
The next day, Cody breaks into a lab owned by Duncan, where he sees the finished device: a microchip inserted as a filling into a tooth cavity by dentist Santiago. Shortly afterward Cody and Derek chase Diaz, armed with a rocket gun, through London streets, but Cody is captured by the Metropolitan Police Service and taken to Scotland Yard. He is later freed by Emily (Hannah Spearritt), a fellow student who, similar to Cody, is actually an undercover British Scotland YardSecret Intelligence Service. While Emily is distracted, Diaz's henchmen kidnap Cody and implant him with the microchip.
Under Duncan, Santiago, and Diaz's influence, Cody meets the CIA director on a London bus who is then also converted. Unbeknownst to them and Cody, this is witnessed by Emily. Emily enlists the help of Derek to get the microchip out of Cody. After knocking out Cody, Derek carefully cuts up one of Cody's gadgets, exploding Mentos mints, into a precisely minuscule amount to safely remove it. The group later realizes Diaz's plan: to implant all of the world leaders, who are all in London for a G7 summit at Buckingham Palace.
Deducing that with the CIA director under Diaz's control, they may be put on a most wanted list, Cody, Derek, and Emily infiltrate the party before the summit. There, they realize that most of the dignitaries have already been implanted and Duncan was appointed director of the Royal Mint by the British Prime Minister. They explain the truth to the other students, who perform for the guests and urge them to keep the world leaders from attending the G7 summit. They later proceed to do so with an impromptu but rousing performance of War, whilst Cody, Emily, and Derek search for the villains. Derek is implanted with the microchip and is set on Cody by Santiago. Before Santiago can kill him through Derek, Emily finds and subdues him, disabling the mind control software and rescuing the U.S. president, who was to be implanted.
Shortly after Cody kicks out Derek's microchip, the two of them remove the CIA director's microchip. Diaz attempts to flee, but he is captured by Cody in the Queen's gift room. Duncan also attempts to escape but is tripped by Trivial Jenkins, his apparently senile and blind butler, who turns out to be Emily's handler. Duncan is arrested with Diaz and Santiago.
After the villains are arrested, Cody sets off to return to America, and both he and Emily promise to keep in contact. Alongside Cody returning to America as a reward, Derek also returned to the camp and replaced Diaz as head counselor. Cody's parents pick him up, completely oblivious to the summer camp. Alex, Cody's younger brother tries to eat a few of his explosive Mentos, but Cody tosses them into the pond where they explode harmlessly.
Cast
Frankie Muniz as Cody Banks, a 16-year-old teenager working for the CIA as an undercover junior agent
The director of the first Cody Banks film, Harald Zwart, was initially poised to return but left over financial disagreements. MGM executives disputed Zwart's figures, saying that twice they had bumped up the film's budget during negotiations to meet his expectations. The proposed budget had moved north of $30 million, with the price rising moderately, as often happens with sequels.[2] Director Kevin Allen was offered the directing job after MGM brass were impressed with his indie comedies. An executive mandate for the film was for less reliance on CGI setpieces and placing more emphasis on comedy with Allen saying of the mandate, "If you ain't got the money, make 'em laugh."[3]Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London filmed in London and Cobham Hall in Kent where the Gilt Room doubled as the Queen's gift room at Buckingham Palace as Cody Banks (Frankie Muniz) fights Victor Diaz (Keith Allen) in a room full of treasures.[4]
Reception
Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 14% "Rotten" rating based on 95 reviews, with an average score of 3.6/10. The site's consensus reads: "Young kids may find this London adventure fun, but older kids may find it too simplistic."[5] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 32 out of 100 based on reviews from 25 critics, indicating "generally negative reviews".[6] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[7] Like the first film, Roger Ebert gave the movie 2 1/2 out of 4 stars.
Coming exactly one year after the first Cody Banks film, Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London opened with only $8 million, compared to $14.1 million for its predecessor.[8]
Possible sequel and spin-off
While speaking with Steve-O, Frankie Muniz revealed that MGM had pitched to him two ideas for a family-friendly sequel and an adult oriented animated series. The sequel would feature Cody Banks training a group of new teenage spies while the series, described as being similar to BoJack Horseman, would feature Banks as a wash-up trying to regain his spy credibility from his youth.[9]
