The Spy Next Door parents guide

The Spy Next Door Parent Guide

The script's messages will be difficult to miss thanks to obvious life lessons about family love and acceptance. Kids may even go home wishing they had a spy living next door.

Overall B

Bob Ho (Jackie Chan) retires from the CIA with the hopes of marrying Gillian (Amber Valletta). However, her three kids don't really approve of this plan. And the situation only gets worse when the former spy agrees to babysit, unaware that one of the youngsters has accidentally violated the cyberspace of long-term enemies.

Release date January 15, 2010

Violence C+
Sexual Content A-
Profanity B+
Substance Use A

Why is The Spy Next Door rated PG? The MPAA rated The Spy Next Door PG for sequences of action violence and some mild rude humor.

Run Time: 92 minutes

Official Movie Site

Parent Movie Review

Jackie Chan has long since proven his martial arts skills starring in films like The Medallion, The Forbidden Kingdom, and the Rush Hour trilogy. He also has a knack for more family friendly comedy. Exuding ample screen presence, the 55-year-old still does most of his own stunts in this action-oriented film that contains generous amounts of clowning and the clever manipulation of various props, such as folding chairs, a bicycle and kitchen utensils.

Although the violent depictions found here aren’t quite as intense as those in many of Chan’s other productions, The Spy Next Door still contains plenty of hand-to-hand combat, the brief inclusion of gun use, and a cleaver-style knife employed during a scuffle in a restaurant. While many kids will understand the danger of mimicking these antics at home, parents of particularly impressionable young viewers may prefer to preview these skirmishes before showing them to their offspring.

In the movie, Chan plays Bob, a nerdy pen salesman who lives next door to Gillian (Amber Valletta) and her three children, Farren (Madeline Carroll), Ian (Will Shadley) and Nora (Alina Foley). He and Gillian have been seeing one another for a while but the single mom is reluctant to pursue the relationship considering the fact not one of her children likes Bob.

However, when she is called out of town to care for her bedridden father, Bob takes the opportunity to offer his babysitting services in hopes of connecting with the kids. Despite his mild-mannered demeanor, he is confident he can handle the responsibility since (unbeknownst to the family) he is really an undercover, international spy on loan to the CIA from China. Relying on some specialized secret agent equipment, Bob starts to reign in the trio of terribly behaved siblings.

Meanwhile, Poldark (Magnús Scheving), a Russian villain, and his cohorts (Katherine Boecher, Troy Brenna, Kevin Christopher Brown) are developing a formula that will threaten the world’s oil supply. Wanting to crack the computer code that protects Poldark’s program, Bob’s fellow employees at the government agency (George Lopez and Billy Ray Cyrus) send him a copy of the file. Unfortunately young Ian mistakes it for concert footage and transfers it to his MP3 player.

Tracing the download to its source, Poldark and his henchmen descend on the family’s busy neighborhood street on Halloween evening with the intent of retrieving the secret information—regardless of how it is done.

The script’s messages will be difficult to miss thanks to obvious life lessons about family love and acceptance and the heavy-handed use of the musical score. Yet Chan manages to keep the movie moving along at a clip that makes the advice more palatable by engaging the attention of younger audience members with plenty of physical feats. In fact, kids may even go home wishing they had a spy living next door.

Directed by Brian Levant. Starring Jackie Chan, George Lopez, Amber Valletta. Running time: 92 minutes. Theatrical release January 15, 2010. Updated

The Spy Next Door
Rating & Content Info

Why is The Spy Next Door rated PG? The Spy Next Door is rated PG by the MPAA for sequences of action violence and some mild rude humor.

Gillian’s three children frequently argue, name call and wrestle. Farren also fights with her mother. Ian, a frequent liar, is bullied at school by other students who give him a “wedgie” and throw him in a garbage can. The children pull mean tricks on Bob. Other characters repeatedly engage in martial arts combat, using props like a knife and chairs. One character is shown with bloody cuts on his face after crashing through a window. An animal bites a man. A woman slaps a man in the face. Characters use specialized equipment such as a miniature flamethrower and rotating cutting instrument. A female character loses two teeth after a door hits her in the face. A man is whacked repeatedly on the side of the head with two cast iron skillets. Another character is struck with a bottle. One man has a TV dropped on his head. A teenager tries to leave the house in skimpy clothing on several occasions. A woman wears an ultra-tight outfit. A couple kisses briefly. The dialogue contains brief terms of Deity, name-calling and rude humor.

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The Spy Next Door Parents' Guide

Why does Farren feel like the outsider in her family? What impact can parental desertion have on children? How does Bob’s childhood experience influence her attitude?

Ian feels ostracized at school because he is brainy rather than athletic. What other things may be contributing to the way he is treated? How can parents help children feel confident in public regardless of their natural inclinations?

How does this film’s musical score contribute to the story? How is it used to let audiences know how they should feel? What types of music are used?

Home Video

The most recent home video release of The Spy Next Door movie is May 18, 2010. Here are some details…

Release Date: 18 May 2010

The Spy Next Door releases in a DVD/Blu-ray Combo Pack, with the following extras:

- Jackie Chan: Stunt Master and Mentor

- Adventures in Acting with the Kids from The Spy Next Door

- Blooper Reel

Related home video titles:

Actors Billy Ray Cyrus and Lucas Till, who both star in this film, also worked together in Hannah Montana: The Movie. Leaving the martial arts effects to the animators, Jackie Chan lends his voice to a character in Kung Fu Panda. Madeline Carroll plays the daughter of a man who finds the fate of the presidential election resting on his shoulders in Swing Vote.