'I snap my fingers... and my fingers snap you.'

Family films are a lot of things. Poorly-acted, lazily-written and full of bad songs, as a rule. What they aren't is something that a whole family will actually enjoy.

But then along came Robert Rodriguez, and he decided to throw a twisted spanner in the cog of poor slapstick and po-faced rite-of-passage yawn-fests. He made Spy Kids.

Rodriguez, using a team full of what can only be described as the 'usual suspects' (Banderas, Marin, Los Lobos) takes a standard children's adventure film and injects it with a decent script, pleasantly cheesy special effects, an army of filmic references and enough twisted surrealist imagery to seriously screw up your kid's head. In a good way. Trust me on this. Add the now-standard impossibly cool electric-Latino guitar soundtrack from Los Lobos and the end result is a cross between El Mariachi, Doctor Who and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Antonio Banderas and his wife are a youngish married couple with two squabbling children. During a magical flashback sequence, the mother tells her children a bedtime story of the two spies who fell in love.

Soon afterwards, the two spies are called out of retirement, to investigate the disappearance of their colleagues. They are quickly captured in the fairy castle of Floop, an enigmatic inventor who stars in a television program which the spies' son adores, and who is also constructing a robotic army. Floop needs a device constructed by Banderas over a decade previously. Predictably, it's up to the children, who had no idea about the double lives of their parents until this point, to save the day.

Children will love this film. This child certainly did. There's a bewildering array of colourful gadgets on offer, from the mini-subs and rocket-packs to penknife-sized lightsabres (the end credits offer their thanks to Mr. George Lucas) and electric chewing gum.

As for other film references, a shot of a robot secret agent punching through a wall is remarkably similar to The Matrix, and I was delighted to see the Mariachi's guitar lying around the Banderas household. Alexander Minion has both a character and a name direct from an Austin Powers film, particularly when he tries to get comfortable in Floop's chair towards the end of the film.

If the 'real world' spy hardware is unbelievable, with bright yellow submarines and rocket packs, Floop's castle can only be the product of some serious substance abuse. Decorated in bright primary colours like a children's cartoon, guarded by sinister but clumsy giant thumb people, with jigsaw puzzle patterns on the windows and floors that vanish to be replaced by toughened glass or a gaping hole, this twisted nursery world can only be inspired by Tim Burton himself (I heard the tell-tale nursery twinkling of a Danny Elfman theme at times, and wasn't surprised to see his name in the credits). The castle is a children's television world that has been twisted and distorted subtly, to give the impression of something a lot more sinister. Even the Teletubbies are sent up in the form of the gabbling Floop's Fooglies: a race of large, deformed figures who leap around clapping their hands. The Fooglies are spies that have been mutated, and they spend their television time screaming for help from an uncomprehending audience.

Floop is played by Alan Cumming, a British comedy actor of ludicrous talent. American audiences will know him almost exclusively through Goldeneye, in which he played Boris and got frozen by liquid nitrogen at the end. The more sophisticated audience members might remember him from BBC TV's film Bernard and the Genie, or the fantastic sitcom The High Life.

Here, Cumming is having a great time, as he gets to play both a villain and a hero. The boy, Juni, worships both Floop and his television show, and is desolate when he realises that the man is a villain. However, when the tables are turned by Minion, Juni converts Floop to his side during one of the most surreal scenes, in the VIRTUAL ROOM. This conversion is signalled very early in the film, but Floop retains a certain degree of amorality even after saving the day. He repents his evil schemes not because they are evil as such, but because he's bored with them, and would prefer to focus on his television show. Floop is very definitely the star of the show. Apparently there's already a sequel in the planning stages, and I really hope Cumming makes a return appearance.

The children themselves are surprisingly good. Juni can be a little annoying, especially at the beginning, but the girl playing Carmen is surprisingly plausible and consistent in her performance. By the end, Juni has become an irritating but likeable figure in his style-defying waistcoat and bow-tie. Carmen has less in the way of character development to do, but an undeniable talent for her craft. Her physical comedy when fighting her robot double is particularly impressive.

One of the things that impressed me most, however, was the special effects. They were rubbish. And this was fantastic. To see an action film that puts its money into things other than hollow digital morphing gizmos is a refreshing change. With Rodriguez occupying almost every single production credit to save money, it's clear that the surplus of cash went on design. Everything about this film is stunningly well-designed: the costumes, the sets and the gadget props. The special effects are crude, although convincing enough. Obviously a lot of green-screening is going on, and a welcome return to men in monster costumes, rather than the pointless CGI constructs of recent years. Fantastic cheese-tinged escapism.

This is a fantastic piece of cinema. Rodriguez hasn't compromised his artistic style just because he's making a children's film. His jump-cuts and other camera tricks are still employed for maximum coolness. The music is brilliant, courtesy once again of the magnificent Los Lobos. The cast is splendid, with the surprisingly good kids and the dependable figures of Banderas and Cumming.

The only real problem is the very end of the film, when the young target audience becomes painfully apparent. The moral message about keeping families together is hammered home with little subtlety, and George Clooney's cameo should have been cut altogether.

The film's other major fault is its advertising. When I first saw the posters, I decided I would rather eat my own feet than watch it. While children will identify easily with the child characters, parents should be reassured: the adult support cast has a huge amount of quality screen-time. So even if you're not convinced by Carmen and Juni, you'll still find plenty to adore about the film.

Magnificent.