-Caleb Gunn
Story Summary:
Beginning: When Loid learns HQ plans to replace him as father of Anya and spouse of Yor, when Yor believes she saw Loid cheating on her, and Anya believes her family is on the brink of collapsing, tension is high in the Forger household! Loid, still committed to carrying Mission: Strix through however hears word Anya’s class will be rewarding a single student with a stella star for best baked pastry. With some research, he learns the main judge’s favorite dessert is a “Meremere” treat, and so Loid makes it his mission to teach Anya how to make the perfect Meremere. However, when a Meremere and required ingredients are nowhere to be found locally, Loid, Yor, Anya, and Mr. Bond all go on a family trip to a neighboring town to learn more about this delicacy.
The Forger family soon find themselves in a whirl of trouble, as Anya seemingly swallows a valuable SD chip belonging to enemy territory! Not only that, but the family soon find themselves in conflict with the military as troops take away their final slice of Meremere! When the final ingredient to make more Meremere can’t be found by the family anywhere locally, Anya goes out on her own hunt to find it, only to be kidnapped by the military, throwing Loid and Yor on their own separate missions to save Anya! Through intense and hair-raising battles, the Forger family successfully save the day, and in perfect spy and assassin behavior, no trace of the adventure is left behind…
The story ends with both Loid and Yor have inner dialogues where they express they know this family is a lie, but aren’t willing to let it go. However, when Loid gets a new mission located on a cruise ship, he alerts the family he believes it’s already time for another vacation, where we switch to seeing the family out on the beach and on a new adventure, all to be continued…
Pros and Cons:
PRO:
The internal struggle between Loid’s hidden fear of being replaced as father and Yor’s worry about Loid cheating on her, which all build up to the two being suspicious about each other’s awkward behavior, all while trying to keep their fake marriage seemingly real to the public (requiring them to act like a better married couple, which we see them through the series actually grow to care about doing) makes for a wonderful, juicy, and exciting plot line between the two, as viewers cringe when they mistake each other’s signals, but also pray on their knees for more intimate and romantic scenes between the two, wishing someday the two will actually truly care for the other person and become a true married couple. Not just me, right?
Because of this, I believe the best part of the movie was when Loid and Yor got to spend time on the carousel and work out their problems. Even though the film features jet fights and explosions, these couple minutes between the two was my highlight.
CON: However, the pro above is also one of this series cons. I, as a viewer, want to see more development between the Loid and Yor, both romantically and possibly at some point finding out about each other’s secret lives. When I first started watching the series, I could imagine the plotline of their secret lives being dragged on for a while, which is no problem, but with this film not really changing anything in the SpyxFamily storyline or lore, including the fact not even a stella star was won over, this movie makes me worried the writers of this franchise are going to be too afraid of letting these characters develop, grow, and eventually go, which makes me curious if we’re ever going to see major character development or even an end to the series. Some will consider this a pro, but I consider this more of a con.
PRO: The animation was consistently gorgeous and true to the look of the average SpyxFamily episode, if not better. One of the shots that really caught my eye is when the family was traveling past the snowy mountains on the train, the frames were absolutely gorgeous and the landscape artist deserves a raise. (And the animation team as a whole too, they did terrific for an entire film!)
CON: One part of the film that wasn’t written as well was explaining WHY the microchip in the secret chocolate was integral to keeping peace between the east and the west. We are never truly explained why it’s important, and as viewers we are just kinda supposed to forget that. This is the only odd plot hole, weird.
PRO: Loid, Yor, and Anya remain as one of the most charming trios and families I’ve ever watched in any sort of media. Loid is constantly calculating and overthinking any possible scenario to a perfect ‘T’, making him an absolute sick and stoic character in any situation he’s in. Yor continues to be a loving mother to Anya, and yet worries about being the best fake spouse she can be too Loid, where we as viewers know it’s more than just her wanting to keep the secret intact, but her seriously loving her fake family. Anya remains a mischievous goofball who strives to follow in her parents dangerous lifestyles all too much, and yet shows vulnerability and weakness when Loid tells her he won’t be bringing her on the trip to get the extra ingredient, and stubbornly goes out and tries to do it herself. Anya takes action out of emotion, and that makes her an awesome character.
This movie reminded me why SpyxFamily has one of the best casts of main characters, and I love these three so much! Their chemistry and ability to hide their secrets from each other make me smile so much. These three are so darn charming the entire film!
CON: Yeah, I’m NOT gonna be letting this flaw hide under the rug. We are addressing Anya’s struggle to not POOP… This joke was carried out and dragged way too far, making me slightly uncomfortable as we heard Anya squirm and struggle not to poop and let the chocolate out so the villains could have the microchip. This whole gag was just inappropriate, especially since Anya is about 5-6 years old.
And when Anya went into her poop heaven hallucination, my jaw dropped from how far we were carrying this joke out. It was dull by then, and as gorgeous and experimental as the animation was, it was all ill intended as we saw Anya rocketed into the sky multiple times with fart sounds. Just very adolescent and cringe. This entire trope unfortunately loses this movie an entire (stella) star.
PRO: The action scenes Loid and Yor have at the end are exciting and engaging, especially Loid’s gun duel with the villains and his hand-to-hand combat with the boss, only to choke him out and pull his magical Loid stunt and somehow suddenly look just like him. Yor’s fight is a bit random, but the flashy animation is intriguing, and her final blow, her KO, her FATALITY to the cyborg with her lipstick was HARDCORE.
CON: My issue with the near climax however was Yor’s fight unfortunately. As mentioned, action was terrific, but I felt she was tossed to the sideline to 1-v-1 a random cyborg monster we have never been introduced to before, where he is simply a force of destruction and nothing else. He is given no story or explanation for why his body is loaded with ammo, but he just keeps Yor busy while Loid has his epic scene upstairs. I don’t think it’s sexist Yor was pushed aside, especially considering the fact her battle proves she is unbelievably skilled and powerful, taking out a villain Loid could never, but it simply feels like a wasted opportunity for Yor to play a better role in the climax.
Maybe if she was under disguise, and so was Loid, it’d be amazing if they teamed up and took out the villains without even realizing they were working together. The cyborg just felt like a time waster as he just shot mindless bullets. The best part was his death because of how sick Yor GRILLED HIS ARSE…
PRO: I loved that we got to visit nearly every major character in the SpyxFamily series, from Yuri, Fiona, Damian, Becky, the whole cast at Eden Academy, and more. This movie really cared to give a moment to each character and completely immerse us into the world of SpyxFamily with its number of diverse locations.
PRO: This movie caters to both fans and uninformed viewers of the series very well. There are many jokes and tropes that only fans will appreciate, but this is also a film I could show to friends and family who know nothing about the series and believe they might genuinely enjoy! It’s a great first step into the series, and I hope new fans have been made from this film!
PRO: Since the goal is to continue the SpyxFamily series further, the ending sets it up well for more content to come.
This movie has more Pros than Cons!
Conclusion:
It’s no lie that the world loved SpyxFamily: Code White. The film raked in 29M US dollars in just a few days, and was met with a shocking 98 percent approval rate by critics on Rotten Tomatoes! Although I’ve had my beef with Tomatoer, I tipped my hat when I saw their overwhelmingly positive reception to the film, including the fact the “SpyxFamily series” sits at 100 percent on Tomatoer.
Code: White sets itself up as a great entry gate for new viewers, and a wonderful treat to fans. This movie is the most fun I’ve had viewing SpyxFamily media yet, where I sat in my chair constantly laughing, chuckling, and smiling during this wonderful adventure. I believe the film sits on the throne as the best thing the series has done yet. This is certainly my favorite film of the year thus far!
SpyxFamily continues to play off its genius concept of spy, assassin, and telepath, one that only sets itself up for excitement, and takes great advantage of this in it’s never-boring film. I look forward to what comes next for the franchise as it’s already a certified Popculture classic!
Overall, I rate SpyxFamily: Code White, 9 out of 10 peanuts!
And it wouldn’t be a trip to the theaters if I didn’t come dressed for the occasion! Here’s my parody art of Chopper from ‘One Piece’, where we witness Anya crying over no peanuts! I also brought my Anya statue and Anya keychain clipped to my jeans. Fantastic fit, thank you.
Thank you for reading all the way to the end! If you enjoyed this article, please read more on my home page, share with anybody who would also enjoy this article, and leave your thoughts in the comments! Please support my social platforms and the ‘Gunn’s Garage’ blog as I hope my reviews reach more popculture fans like you!
-Caleb Gunn, Writer, Actor, Artist, and ‘Self-Proclaimed’ Celebrity
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