Catch That Kid Reviews

Something must have been lost in the Hollywood translation of the popular 2002 Dutch film KLATRETOSEN. This heist flick is far more likely to drive audiences away than catch and keep anyone's interest in the title kid — or more accurately, kids. Tomboyish 12-year-old Maddy (PANIC ROOM's Kristen Stewart) lives a fairly carefree life, aside from hiding her obsession with climbing from her workaholic mom, Molly (Jennifer Beals), and occasionally getting stuck having to watch her toddler brother. But Maddy's world gets a lot more complicated when her mountain-climbing dad (Sam Robards) suffers a debilitating injury, the residual effect of a fall he took a few years back while trying to reach the summit of Everest. Insurance won't cover the $250,000 needed to send him to Denmark for an experimental surgery. More bad news is on the way: Molly can't come up with the cash, and the heartless, money-grubbing bank executive Brisbane (Michael Des Barres), who hired Molly to install a security system in his newest branch, refuses her request for a loan because the system won't operational in time for the big opening gala. Maddy gets the bright idea to use her mom's access to the bank floor plans to break in and use the money to help her father. She recruits her two best friends, computer geek Austin (Corbin Bleu) and mechanically inclined Gus (Max Thieriot), to assist in her plan. And since they are adolescent boys and both have obvious crushes on Maddy, they agree to help her. Putting their heads together, they devise an elaborate plan to slip past psychotic security guards, vicious attack dogs and several layers of alarm systems and reach the elevated vault that's suspended 100 feet off the floor without getting caught. The execution, however, has several hitches, one of which is Maddy once again getting saddled with her baby brother and winds up taking him along on the mission. Indie director Bart Freundlich's (THE MYTH OF FINGERPRINTS, WORLD TRAVELER) first attempt at a big-budget action movie lacks the really cool gadgets and humor of the recent SPY KIDS movies, and the all glitz of the ongoing adolescent-James Bond CODY BANKS franchise. The emotionless cast members wind up looking like caricatures of types and do little to create any sympathy for their situation. More important, the messages the film sends out to its preteen target audience are troublesome. Good intentions aside, the consequences for the crime that these kids commit are fairly insignificant. It's also disappointing that though the film features a strong young woman, she resorts to using her budding sexuality to persuade her pals to assist her.