Frankie banks on fans seeing sequel
by Diana De Leon
managing editor

   Cody Banks is out to stop a rogue CIA agent whom he unwittingly allowed to escape in the sequel to Agent Cody Banks.
   In Destination London, the action is sparse, but exciting, and the jokes are just cute.
   The movie starts at summer camp, which is really a CIA training program, and Frankie Muniz returns as agent Cody Banks.
   Banks is no longer a rookie agent but a seasoned veteran, and the charm of the first movie is missing.
   Some of the children in the camp treat Banks like a hero, offering to get him whatever he wants. Banks goes through the training exercises with ease.
   But the training exercises get Banks in trouble when he unknowingly helps the director of the camp, Diaz (Keith Allen), to escape with a mind-control device during what Banks thinks is a training exercise.
   A trip to London on an undercover assignment to retrieve the device introduces Banks to his new handler, Derek, played by Anthony Anderson.
   They bump heads at first but soon learn to work together while undercover at a prestigious music school.
   Banks must balance spy duties while pretending to be a music prodigy and a regular kid to the other music students in the school.
   Meanwhile Diaz is planning to use the mind control device to gain control over world leaders at a meeting in London.
   After Banks is captured, the device is implanted in his tooth. It is left to a British agent, played by Hannah Spearritt, posing as a music student, to save Banks.
   Of course, the saving part comes after a trial use of the device, which makes Banks throw food all over fellow students.
   Spearritt’s character introduces Banks and Derek to the British gadget guy, who appears to need a straight jacket or at least some decaf coffee.
   References to James Bond and his gadgets are made in jest, and the trio are now working together to stop Diaz.
   Comic relief is provided by the Anderson character with the two kid spies playing for keeps.
   A strong female character and not just a damsel in distress is a good change of pace for a movie like this.
   The movie is aimed at 8-to-14 year-olds and hits the mark but does not have the wit and charm of the first movie.
   Note to parents: The film sports some potty humor and a few bad words (ass, sucks and hell), but the film action is not scary.
   However, Agent Cody Banks, Destination London is worth the trip to the movies and is not hard to sit through for adults.