Publication Date: 07-12-2025

Agent Cody Banks (2002) review

Dir. Harold Zwart

By: Steve Pulaski

Rating: ★★

Agent Cody Banks, if not having the cheery, smiley cast that it wound up with, could’ve been an even more redundant spy flick than it already is. While mostly harmless, serving as a James Bond flick for the tween crowd, it’s a rather safe affair, combining by-the-numbers storytelling and plot devices to create a film that will, predictably, entertain its target audience but bore their occupiers.

The story concerns our title character, who is played by Frankie Muniz of TV’s Malcolm in the Middle, a fifteen year old kid with a love for math, science, and spy equipment. He applies for a junior position at the CIA, only to be summoned by Agent Ronica Miles (Angie Harmon), who wants him to join an elite private school, attract the attention and form a friendship with teen-girl Natalie Connors (Hilary Duff) in order to find out more about her father Dr. Albert Connors (Martin Donovan). Dr. Connors may in fact be under manipulation by Dr. Brinkman (Ian McShane), a man attempting to create nanobots, which could effectively destroy any opposing force against him.

The selling point here, of course, isn’t the story but the idea. The idea that a fifteen year old could potentially save the world, take out an elite bad guy, get the girl, and avoid getting grounding by his parents. It’s the kind of thing kids (think eight and younger) imagine before they go to sleep at night. They want to be as cool as Cody Banks and they want what he has. Whatever the plot that comes with a character this slick, cool, and relatable, they’ll take it.

The character Cody Banks works so much better as an idea and a marketing plea than as someone we see getting thrown into various obstacles and death-traps during the course of the film. Seeing him lumber his way through one monotonous setup after another gets tedious very quickly. It’s nice to note that at least Muniz is a gifted screen presence, making the most archetypal caricature at least presentable. He is only assisted by the effervescent Hillary Duff, who may just be the perky blonde here but she’s a perky blonde with a soul. That’s a hard role to play in a film that doesn’t allow for much coloring outside the lines.

What makes Agent Cody Banks at least mildly entertaining are the actors and the buildup to the predictable but somewhat amusing finale. Clearly, two-thirds of the entire $28 million budget went into making the factory explosion look how it is. It may not be the most convincing factory explosion I’ve ever seen, but as far as factory explosions go, this one at least registers on the Richter Scale of competence – I forgot to mention that that it’s an example of how corny the lines get in this film.

The film rides off the coattails of adventure films like Spy Kids but with far less imagination and depth. Spy Kids had the benefit of being unpredictable in the world it set up and didn’t ground itself to the kind of everyday reality we expected. It colored outside the lines, not really caring if its picture became “pretty” in the eyes of the viewer. Agent Cody Banks seems to only color outside the lines a little bit and then question if the viewer noticed.

Let’s call Agent Cody Banks exactly what it is, which is a direct-to-DVD, TV movie that was fortunate enough to be released theatrically. It bears everything that is the equivalent to a Disney Channel movie that airs at 7PM on Friday nights: a predictable script, thin and dopey characters, kiddy jokes that often fall flat, and only a somewhat enticing mystery. I’ll return to my point that many kids will be amused by the story, while their adult caretakers will likely look at their watches more often than the screen. I probably would’ve been slightly more entertained by a tour of Agent Cody Banks’ bedroom.

Starring: Frankie Muniz, Hillary Duff, Angie Harmon, Ian McShane, and Martin McDonovan. Directed by: Harold Zwart.