User Reviews

Claire (Kellie Martin) and Matt Thompson (Brady Smith) are suburban parents to teen Brody Thompson (Justin Kelly). They get a surprise visit from Ingrid (Patricia Richardson) who is the leader of The Jensen Project, a secret think tank of super geniuses solving the world's problems without claiming any credit. Claire and Matt are former members. Claire had left after disputes with her boss Edwin but Edwin has left the organization after stealing and sabotaging some valuable nanobot tech. Claire was the one who had worked on the tech.

This is an NBC movie which served as a back door pilot. Obviously, it was never picked up. There's a good reason for it. It's not inherently a good show for network TV. The obvious action in this movie is catching Edwin and stopping whatever evil plot is going on. It doesn't make any sense that Claire and Matt are doing the pursuing. They are basically the tech nerds in most procedural shows and this one would be a workplace full of tech nerds. There is some fine CGI for TV and its time. The best comparison is probably Scorpion which lasted four seasons but that show used a bit of sex and lots more action to sell the material. This Jensen show is never going to work.

At the start of the movie, Brody and Samantha are flying a plane over New York City. One gets the impression they're not supposed to be doing this.

Let's back up a few days. Claire is a teacher, but at one time she designed a revolutionary technology called "nanobots", tiny computers which could be used by one person to control the body of another. Very valuable to the military--for both sides. You wouldn't want to be a soldier if the enemy had the technology and could use it on you.

But Edwin disapproved of the quality of Claire's work and she was out of the program, known as The Jensen Project. Now she's married to pediatrician and immunologist Matt (who was also in The Jensen Project), and they have a teenage son Brody who is a genius like his parents. You won't believe how his technological expertise allows him to skip school (but not without consequences when he's found out!) And what he does when on his own is similar to playing video games, but much more advanced. He doesn't hate learning; he's just bored in a traditional education environment.

Ingrid shows up with shocking news. Edwin has quit The Jensen Project and destroyed evidence his work. He is now developing nanobot technology for the enemy, who communicates with him through Mr. Cho. That's not to say he wants to be evil, but Mr. Cho has terrible things planned for Edwin if he doesn't obey.

Only two people can save the world now! Guess who they are? Naturally Brody comes along, and while exploring this fantastic secret installation he meets Samantha, a brilliant teenage scientist who has been on her own for years. Possible romance? Maybe.

The action gets pretty exciting, for a family movie. Maybe I shouldn't say action, because it's not that much of an action movie. However, there are moral dilemmas that must be dealt with or the world is in serious trouble.

This is a family film. There are a few scenes of unethical testing of harmful technology. And, yes, even Brody is put in jeopardy. But there's nothing that serious here. A little minor violence here and there.

The acting isn't particularly outstanding, but it's okay. Alyssa Diaz is the standout as the genius teen with an attitude. I was a little disappointed in Patricia Richardson because in her first scene she has the personality of a robot. She develops emotions fairly quickly and improves for the most part, though. That's the only real weakness I could see.

Kellie Martin sure looks young to be a teenager's mother--except where her facial expressions and the lighting show off her wrinkles. Well, at least we know she hasn't had work done. Her hair and clothes are quite pretty, and sometimes her face is too. She does a good job acting.

The real achievement here is visual effects. No computer screens--the information just hangs in the air. People walk through walls and even fireplaces. And there's plenty more. Nothing groundbreaking, I'm sure, on a TV-movie budget, but interesting to watch all the same.

It was worth seeing.

My ratings out of 5:

Acting 1/5 (only for Kellie Martin)

Directing 0.5/5

Dialogue 0/5 (never mind how infernally fast actors spoke when dealing with comic-book technology so we couldn't understand)

Story 2.5/5

Script 1/5

Set design 3/5

I quit after about 40 minutes. Pathetic and ghastly and manipulative. Too much speed-talking. Too much background music (bad pop) for who knows what reason. The premise was quite good. The execution was as bad and as cynical as it could be.

I thought that the movie was entertaining. I have read the other reviews and I do agree with some of the things. The technical terms could be toned down. I was mostly happy to see Kellie Martin again. It was good to see some faces that I have not seen before. I guess that you would have to like fantasy/sci-fi to enjoy this movie. It is a great family show and I guess it could be easily be made more appealing to older audiences. I was a little annoyed with all of the Wal-Mart and Xbox commercials. I do not go to Wal-Mart, nor do I have an Xbox. If NBC does make it into a series they will have to make some adjustments. I hope that at least a part two is created.

Everything was so fake. The dialogue sounded fake and they mention corny technology names too often. Not to give anything away, but I found it ridiculous that they had so much advanced technology, and the whole plot is saved by a simple device that everyone uses now.

Only watch it if you want some laughs at how ridiculous it is.

Out of ten stars, I would give it a, 2/10

One other thing bad about the movie: The Sound mixing was terrible. There was music constantly playing but it was not balanced with the dialogue so it was very difficult to understand what they were saying at times.

I disagree with some of the other reviewers here. I watched this last night and hope it turns into a series. It was very cute, very light, a nice family TV movie in the spirit of Spy Kids. Was it the greatest thing I have ever seen, no. Was it the worst thing, no. It was nice to see TV vets Patricia Richardson and LeVar Burton, 33 years now since Roots, believe it or not. Kellie Martin is a bit young to play the mother of teen ager, but she did it very well as always. She always shows class and grace in her roles and did very well in this cute family movie. It is what they refer to as a "back door" pilot and so if it did well they might turn it into a series. It would be better probably as a series of TV movies, similar to Mystery Woman, another Martin series. Nice to see something family oriented nowadays.