Spy Kids: All the Timein the World in 4D

The fourth installment of Robert Rodriguez’s franchise that keeps adding dimensions even as it loses charm would have been better titled Spy Kids: All the Time Puns in the World. I’m not sure how much the target audience of youngsters appreciates Spy Kids: All the Time in the World in 4D‘s never-ending stream of ”I’m gonna clean your clock” and ”Don’t waste my time” wordplay, but the filmmaker is clearly hoping the answer is a whole lot. Beyond that, the film — featuring a whole new set of crime-fighting progeny who discover that their stepmother (Jessica Alba) lives a secret life of gadgetry and car chases — is mainly a collection of fart jokes, backgrounds green-screened into abstraction, and the same ”family first” lessons espoused by the first three films. The hokiest element of all, Rodriguez’s resurrection of the scratch-and-sniff companion card last used years ago in a slightly more ironic fashion by John Waters, could have been a fun addition if all the ostensible scents (bacon, blue cheese, dog flatulence) didn’t just smell like a blueberry Yankee Candle. C-