When you see the first minute or so of the trailer for Spies In Disguise, the new animation from Blue Sky, you think you know what you’re getting. A suave lead, voiced by Will Smith, Incredibles-style retro action, slick visuals, and nifty gadgets. And then comes the rug-pull – not just any twist, but the weirdest, most surprising most un-guessable twist of 2018. Sorry, Hereditary.
One minute, Will Smith’s Lance Sterling is running, fighting, swooping around a city in a wing suit. And the next he’s… a bird. A bog-eyed pigeon to be exact, having been transformed by Tom Holland’s young scientist Walter Beckett. It’s no punishment either – this is the film’s titular ‘disguise’. To confirm, yes: in 2019, we’re getting a film about a super-spy who transforms into a bird.
Here’s the official synopsis from 20th Century Fox: “Super spy Lance Sterling (Will Smith) and scientist Walter Beckett (Tom Holland) are almost exact opposites. Lance is smooth, suave and debonair. Walter is… not. But what Walter lacks in social skills he makes up for in smarts and invention, creating the awesome gadgets Lance uses on his epic missions. But when events take an unexpected turn, Walter and Lance suddenly have to rely on each other in a whole new way. And if this odd couple can’t learn to work as a team, the whole world is in peril. Spies In Disguise is an animated comedy set in the high-octane globe-trotting world of international espionage.”
Obviously, we have many, many questions – not least whether Will Smith will provide a soundtrack song for this one. Here’s hoping we get a few answers before the film drops in September 2019.
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