Agent Cody Banks is a kids' spy movie starring Frankie Muniz and Hilary Duff. Cody Banks (Muniz) is a junior CIA agent recruited through a secret CIA summer camp. Due to some exaggerated bragging he did at the camp, the agency mistakes Cody for a KidAnova and assigns him to "seduce" Natalie Connors (Duff), the daughter of a scientist whose nanobots have attracted the attention of an evil organization. What follows is 25% romantic comedy, 25% spy parody, and 50% straight action movie. It also features Angie Harmon as Cody's handler, Ronica Miles, and Keith David as the head of the CIA. A sequel followed in 2004, entitled Agent Cody Banks: Destination London, and it co-starred Hannah Spearritt (of S Club 7 fame) and Anthony Anderson alongside Muniz.
Executive produced by, among others, Madonna and Jason Alexander (yes, that one).
Tropes in the first movie or the series in general:
- Actor Allusion:
- The film stars Frankie Muniz and Hilary Duff. Muniz guest starred earlier on Duff's Disney sitcom Lizzie McGuire as himself. At the end of the episode, Lizzie gets to have a cameo in Muniz's new movie, where he's playing a kid secret agent.
- Noel Fisher playing a bully, like in Max Keeble's Big Move.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Cody has one in the form of his snooping ten-year-old brother Alex.
- Big Bad: Dr. Brinkman, the leader of the evil organization ERIS, who captures Dr. Connors and intends to use his nanobots for his own nefarious purposes.
- Body Horror: Brinkman's fate at the end of the movie, after having an ice cube filled with nanobots shoved into his mouth causing him to be eaten up from the inside.
- Curse Cut Short: Alex after the agency cleans the house.
- The Dragon: Francois Molay is this to Dr. Brinkman.
- Dragon Their Feet: After Natalie kills Brinkman, Molay attempts to stop Cody from escaping the Collapsing Lair, but Cody subdues him after a short fight and captures him alive.
- Family-Unfriendly Violence: The villain threatens to kill Natalie with nanobots inside an ice cube. In the end, she shoves the cube in his mouth and they eat him from the inside out.
- Femme Fatale Spy: Cody's initial assignment basically consists of him being a male version of this trope, with the goal of getting invited to Natalie Connors' birthday party. Also, Ronica Miles basically plays it straight.
- Fighting Fingerprint: When Cody gets into a fight at Natalie's party, he uses CIA unarmed combat moves which out him as an agent to the bad guys.
- Fun with Acronyms: The Nebulous Evil Organisation is called ERIS, which spells the name of the Greek goddess of strife and discord.
- Indecisive Parody: The movie straddles the line between teen action film and spy spoof without really committing to either.
- Just Think of the Potential!: The original plan for the nanobots was to clean up oil spills and save marine life.
- Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter: Natalie is the daughter of a Reluctant Mad Scientist.
- The Name Is Bond, James Bond: Cody does this checking in at Nathalie's birthday party.
- Nanomachines: The bad guys are forcing Natalie's father to build "nanobots," which can eat through anything.
- Playing Doctor: Referenced:Alex: Cody's almost sixteen, and I've had twice as many dates as him.
Cody: Sitting in a tree house isn't exactly a date.
Alex: It is when you're playing doctor. - Protagonist Title: It's a movie called Agent Cody Banks about an agent named Cody Banks.
- Rule of Pool: Cody gets into a fight with some bullies next to a swimming pool. Guess where all the bullies go.
- Shirtless Scene: Cody while getting out of bed in his first scene and later while changing.
- Spies Are Lecherous: The CIA expects Cody to fulfill this trope. Whoops, turns out he Cannot Talk to Women.
- Spy Catsuit: Ronica Miles likes to dress this way.Brinkman: Love that suit. No place for a gun in there, eh?
- Supervillain Lair: The bad guys have a typical one up in the Cascade Mountains. Wouldn't you know it, it collapses at the end.
- Taken Off the Case: After growing too attached to Natalie, who is supposed to be the subject of his investigation and his protection, Cody is removed from the case. He does, however, still have to keep going with it anyway, and the world is saved because he refused to not be involved.
- Teen Superspy: The basic premise of the movies. The series is part of a general wave of kids spy media during the early-to-mid '00s, a trend that was probably started by Spy Kids.
- Was It All a Lie?: Natalie's reaction when she finds out it was Cody's assignment to get close to her.
- Wilhelm Scream: During the fight at the secret lab in the Cascade Mountains.
- X-Ray Vision: Cody is given a pair of X-ray glasses, which double as Cool Shades. Much to his annoyance, they come with a parental-control feature to stop him from ogling women.
Tropes in Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London:
- Actor Allusion: It's probably no coincidence that Hannah Spearritt plays a musician when she at that point was most famous for being in S Club 7.
- And I'm the Queen of Sheba: The students at the Kenworth Academy do this after Cody confesses that he's a secret agent.
- Bald of Evil: Diaz and Kenworth, despite Diaz's protests that he's not bald. Calling him on it seems to be a Berserk Button for him.
- Britain Is Only London: And of course, the climax of the movie takes place at Buckingham Palace.
- Chekhov's Skill: After Cody gets the mind-controlling microchip implanted in his mouth, Derek uses his culinary skills (shown in an early scene establishing Derek working undercover as the chef of Kenworth Academy) to get the microchip out of him by cutting one of Cody's gadgets, exploding Mentos mints, into a precisely minuscule amount to safely remove it.
- Concert Climax: The band keeps the dignitaries busy by breaking out into an absolutely awesome rendition of "War" that has everyone dancing.
- Cultured Badass: Emily — classical music expert and super spy.
- Discouraging Concealment: The CIA Director tells Cody that the camps for training junior agents has a secret storage facility underneath it. When Cody points out that the entrance to the facility would have been discovered years ago, the Director reveals that the entrance was behind an "out-of-service" toilet stall.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: At the beginning of the movie, Diaz berates Cody for displaying friendliness to a fellow agent-in-training/camper whom he previously defeated in an exercise, telling him that no one, Diaz himself included, can be trusted. Not long after, Diaz is revealed to be part of the movie's Big Bad Duumvirate.
- Five-Token Band: The students at the Kenworth Academy. Justified because London is pretty ethnically diverse and it's a prestigious music academy, so foreign students would make sense.
- Lighter and Softer: The sequel is this, due to it being rated PG and being more family-friendly than its predecessor, which was more aimed at teenagers.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: The seemingly senile butler Jenkins turns out to be a handler and apprehends Kenworth when he tries to escape.
- Pocket Rocket Launcher: There is a fight scene in the London Metro, during which Diaz wields a rocket launcher disguised as a Maglite (a sort of big, sturdy flashlight that can be used as a cudgel if nescessary). It extends to twice its length and accepts small rockets dropped down the lamp bell.
- Psychopathic Manchild: All the villains. Diaz is the most obvious example, but all three of them giggle immaturely at the shenanigans they make Cody and other world leaders partake in at social events once they get mind control devices in.
- Sequel Goes Foreign: Destination London takes place in London.
- The Password Is Always "Swordfish": The password to undo the mind-control devices? Apparently, it's just "mind control." Emily doesn't get it at first when she's trying to demand the password, then is exasperated when she realizes it.Emily:(while tying up Santiago) "Mind control", that's your secret password?.Santiago: Hey, I needed something I could remember.
- Token Trio: Our core three has a white guy, black guy, and white girl—the girl is also British to add some national diversity.
