‘Spy Kids’ film is a stinker

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES

Robert Rodriguez deliberately tried to make his latest “Spy Kids” adventure a bit of a stinker.

Rodriguez is billing “Spy Kids: All the Time in the World” as a 4-D flick, adding scent cards so audiences can follow along on the action with their noses.

Here’s how it works: Viewers are given scratch-and-sniff cards with circles numbered 1 to 8. When a number appears on screen, they rub the corresponding circle on their cards, which give off a whiff matching what the characters are smelling.

Rodriguez calls his gimmick “Aroma-Scope.” He tried it out at test screenings and found that children and parents had a good time with it.

“When it came time to do ‘Spy Kids 4,’ I couldn’t just go back and do 3-D like everybody else is now. I had to bring something extra,” Rodriguez said. “Just watching my own kids with interactive gaming, you ask them to watch a movie, it just feels so passive to them. I thought, this helps bridge the gap. It’s an interactive thing, almost like playing a game while you’re watching the movie.”

The new “Spy Kids,” opening Friday and playing in both 2-D and 3-D versions, uses its odors to complement the story as a retired operative is called back to service to fight a villain who has speeded up time, threatening to bring about a quick end to the world.