I Spy [Mass Market Paperback]

Well, I must say that I am a pretty big fan of the original 60's "I Spy" TV series starring Robert Culp and Bill Cosby. Terrific series with ingenious plots taken at exotic places. And the partnership between their characters of Alexander Scott and Kelly Robinson is truly admirable. But I must that besides the names of the main characters, the new upcoming movie of "I Spy" is totally different from the series. And the main difference is this. The 1960's TV series has Alex Scott as a tennis player with Kelly Robinson his trainer. Both are specially trained agents and travel around the world going undercover. The new movie has Alex Scott as an agent being fluent with languages and Kelly Robinson being a boxer and a civilian. Plus, their personalities are completely different though Owen Wilson's Alex Scott will be a bit closer to the original than Eddie Murphy's portrayal of Kelly Robinson.

Alexander Scott, called Alex by all of his friends, is an incredibly cool agent (obviously my favorite character, plus he'll be played by one of my favorite actors of all time). He loves his job and he loves his country. He has a very positive view on the world and has a very funny, sarcastic, and witty kind of humor. He has this very cute school-boy crush on fellow agent Rachel Wright. I hope they put a bit more of her character in the movie. ;) But in the book the romance only seems to be a subplot. Plus he has some pretty cool skills, including a flair for languages. The first chapter is one of the best parts of the book, telling about Alex infiltrating a prison. Kelly Robinson is a superstar boxer who loves being 'the man', who loves all the ladies, who loves to refer to himself in a 'third person' way, and most of all... loves himself (obviously, this character can only be played by Eddie Murphy). His character is a bit annoying though you get a bit used to him as you read along.

Now I'd like to tell you about the 'bad points' of the book. I know this movie is going to be rated PG-13 for "action violence, some sexual content, and language." But I must say this book was a bit too foul in language for me. In movies I can try to withstand and ignore the language while it's very difficult to do so when reading. I hope the movie will be at least a bit tamer than the book, I really hope so. As for the action/violence, the ending of the book is a bit graphic though nothing too bad. And as for sexual innuendos, too too much. It's not to graphic but as I said, they're 'innuendos'... you get the message though nothing explicit is said.

So putting it all together, I can only give this book 2 stars. Don't get me wrong, the whole idea of the "I Spy" is great and I thought the plot was extremely fun and interesting (especially as I said the first part). Plus some of the humor is very funny (especially the beginning where Alex gets a call...). But now I'm a bit apprehensive on watching the movie after reading this book. I do hope that the movie is an improvement over the book. My advice is, if you're looking forward to the movie, I think it'd be better to wait out on reading this book. But if you'd like to read it, I strongly recommend the book only for older teens and adults. I'm sure parents will disapprove young children reading "I Spy", the novelization. But I still can't wait till the movie is out!

Starring in the upcoming film will be (including my favorite movies in which they've played in): Owen Wilson as Alexander Scott ("Shanghai Noon", "Behind Enemy Lines"), Eddie Murphy as Kelly Robinson ("Shrek"), Famke Janssen as Rachel Wright ("X-Men: The Movie"), Malcolm MdDowell as Gundars ("Mr. Magoo"), and more.