HBO Max Users Have Just Days Left To Watch an Iconic 2000s Kids’ Franchise

Growing up in the 2000s meant you got to experience the golden age of family-friendly movies. The decade saw the release of beloved live-action movies like Freak Friday and Bridge to Terabithia to animated favorites like Shrek and Finding Nemo. Unfortunately, a blast of that nostalgia is about to disappear from HBO Max’s library when an iconic 2000s kids’ franchise exits the platform.

Robert Rodriguez’s original Spy Kids trilogy – consisting of Spy Kids, Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams, and Spy Kids 3: Game Over – is scheduled to leave HBO Max on December 31st. The first three films in the franchise starred Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara as siblings Carmen and Juni Cortez, who become involved in an espionage organization. Following the original trilogy, the franchise returned in 2011 with Spy Kids: All the Time in the World and then again in 2023 for Spy Kids: Armageddon, but neither of those later installments is currently available on HBO Max.

The Spy Kids Franchise Is Wonderfully Over-The-Top and Chaotic

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So much of what makes Spy Kids work is just how completely bonkers the movies are. Rodriguez crafted a unique series of films that perfectly blended heartfelt family themes with bizarre, high-concept spy-fi antics, and his unique and unrestrained creative vision is plastered everywhere. From campy CGI and over-the-top gadgets such as “chewing gum that’s actually bubble gum” and “trans-mook” cars to quirky characters like the Thumb Thumb minions and outlandish plots like a TV host turning spies into monsters and characters going directly into a video game, the Spy Kids movies have it all, and it all comes together with a wild, creative energy that is hard to match.

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The movies, which flipped the script by making kids the heroes and made adults clueless bystanders, also boast an unexpectedly stacked cast. Danny Trejo, Alan Cumming, Cheech Marin, Antonio Banderas, and Carla Gugino all appear throughout the original trilogy, with George Clooney, Holland Taylor, Steve Buscemi, and Bill Paxton also appearing in the movies. The even more unhinged Spy Kids 3, which featured an experimental use of 3D technology, even brought on Sylvester Stallone as the main villain, the Toymaker, and featured Elijah Wood and Salma Hayek.

While the first two films earned “Certified Fresh” critic scores on Rotten Tomatoes, Spy Kids 3 marked a significant drop for the franchise, its 45% critic score being the second-lowest in the franchise and the 25% audience rating the lowest. But even if the latter films varied in quality, the franchise as a whole remains an incredibly fun cultural touchstone and truly one of the greatest family franchises out there.

Where to Stream the Spy Kids Franchise After It Leaves HBO Max?

The Spy Kids franchise will be increasingly difficult to stream once the original trilogy leaves HBO Max at the end of the month. The first three films aren’t included in the catalogs of any other major platform, and it’s unclear if they’ll move to a different service in January. The two latter films are streaming, but on different platforms. Spy Kids: All the Time in the World can be viewed on Pluto TV, and Spy Kids: Armageddon on Netflix.

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