Stream It or Skip It: ‘Spies in Disguise’ on HBO, an Animated Comedy in Which Will Smith Voices a Spy Who Turns Into a Pigeon, for Some Reason

Now on HBO, animated action-comedy Spies in Disguise attempts to spiff up a weary subgenre (the spy-movie spoof) with a lunatic premise (spy’s brain trapped in a pigeon’s body). Will Smith lends his quippy voice with the omnipresent attitude, yo, to the super-agent-slash-sky-rat, and frankly, if you’re on board with this right now, you’re probably 11.

SPIES IN DISGUISE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: There are two preludes before the opening credits, but the one that matters most finds Agent Lance Sterling (Smith) whupping serious tushie with the arrogant swagger of a dozen James Bondses. One of his gadgets unexpectedly douses a roomful of Yakuza gangsters in confetti and mollifies them with projections of adorable little kitties. Lance didn’t plan that, but it worked, and he snatches a briefcase with a dangerous weapon in it from a man with a robot hand (Ben Mendelsohn) and darts back to D.C., surfing into the agency on a wave of adoration from his co-workers.

The glitter bomb was sneaked into his arsenal by Walter (Tom Holland), an outcast inventor whose desk is directly adjacent to the men’s room. All his life, he’s been called “weird,” but his late police-officer mom said his gizmos will save people someday. Lance doesn’t care about any of that sentimental crapola; sparkly kittens cramp his style. A grenade, a laser pistol, a knife made out of machine guns — you know, stuff that’ll murder the snot out of someone — is more Lance’s speed. So he sends Walter packing. Such is the punishment for inventing devices that incapacitate instead of kill. The U.S. government will not stand for such ludicrousness. You’re fired, GTFO, please let the door hit you on the way out.

And yet, despite considering himself the world’s greatest spy, Lance might not be the world’s smartest. He failed to check the contents of the briefcase. It’s empty. And internal affairs officers have video of him stealing the weapon. It’s obviously the guy with the robot hand disguising himself, Lance protests, and an agency guy retorts, “Sounds a little Scooby-Doo, bro.” He’s got a point, although nobody asks why Lance would give his superiors an empty briefcase if he was devious; he’s clearly just incompetent.

Anyway, Lance escapes arrest and ends up at Walter’s house, where the wacky inventor accidentally turns him into a pigeon. Now, not only does Lance have to clear his name and stop the bad guy and his legion of killdrones, but he has to do it as a pigeon. Shit sucks. Walter tags along, trying to concoct an antidote; they travel the globe; they befriend some other pigeons; the premise gets stretched like a pair of Hello Kitty Underoos between two F-16s.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Spies in Disguise scrapes some leftovers from The Incredibles, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Ratatouille onto a plate and sticks ’em in the microwave. It ain’t much of a dinner, but it’ll do.

Performance Worth Watching: Holland is a perfectly endearing loveable dork.

Memorable Dialogue: “I don’t think that subtitle was in my favor!” — Lance shows his utter disregard for the fourth wall

Sex and Skin: Naked tattooed Yakuza gangster butt.

Our Take: Prepare yourself for some high-impact cloaca-based comedy! There’s a scene in which we hear Pigeon Lance make highly amusing vocalizations as he attempts to use the toilet, and Walter subsequently explains to him the ins and outs — specifically the outs — of pigeon anatomy. I dunno, if I was a pigeon, even temporarily, I might appreciate the freedom to unapologetically paint the world with my excretions, but that has no room in a movie that prefers to emphasize pigeon puke instead.

As the movie takes light digs at Bond and Bourne and whatnot, it trots out some slapsticky action sequences that aren’t half-bad, tangling in some more immediate comedic elements, and it all works reasonably well if you’re 11, although if you’re 11, you probably don’t give half a crap about Bond and Bourne. So maybe it works on another level, as a movie that pits its violencemonger hero against Walter’s more peaceful ideology and finds a happy medium where it can be action-packed without getting too murder-y. I dunno. I guess this all adds up to me OK-whatevering in the film’s general direction: Not much to dislike here, but not much to love either.

Our Call: SKIP IT, although one could very easily file Spies in Disguise under Damned by Faint Praise: Yea for kids, nay for adults.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com or follow him on Twitter: @johnserba.

Stream Spies in Disguise on HBO

Stream Spies in Disguise on HBO Max