On the surface, Marissa Cortez Wilson has it all... married to a famous spy hunting television reporter, a new baby and intelligent twin step kids. But in reality, trying to mother Rebecca and Cecil, who clearly don't want her around, is her toughest challenge yet. Also, her husband, Wilbur, wouldn't know a spy if he lived with one which is exactly the case - Marissa's a retired secret agent. Marissa's world is turned upside down when the maniacal Timekeeper threatens to take over the planet and she's called back into action by the head of OSS, home of the greatest spies and where the now-defunct Spy Kids division was created. With a little help from a couple of very familiar Spy Kids, Carmen and Juni Cortez, they just may be able to save the world and possibly bring their family together while they're at it...

The soundtrack to Spy Kids 4 is composed by Carl Thiel and Robert Rodriguez, with each working on their own tracks. Rule of thumb: if it's an exciting jazzed up chase sequence then the music is most likely composed by Rodriguez while the more Bond-esque set piece are crafted by Thiel. And then there are themes that the two use to fuse this score together

The biggest influence is obviously the music of the James Bond movies (most notably the more recent work of David Arnold). However, there are a number of other composers work echoed throughout this score. For example 'Panic Room' brought to mind James Horner's work for Jumanji; 'Time's Up' reminded me of Danny Elfman's score for Batman Returns; and 'Argonaut' opens with a distinct flavour of Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev.

While I can't comment on the film, having not seen it, the soundtrack to Spy Kids 4 encapsulates, musically, everything that's great about the spy genre.

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Darren Rea