Catch That Kid is the highly improbable, and totally entertaining, story of three pre-teens who decide the only way to raise the money to help the girl's ailing father is to rob the same bank where her mother works as a security advisor. IMDb describes the film as 'Mission: Impossible for kids', a fair description with elements of Spy Kids and Agent Cody Banks thrown in.

       Like any good James Bond flick, you have to suspend a great deal of belief if you are to enjoy Catch That Kid. The information these three collect in order to plan their heist comes to them much too easily and, under ordinary circumstances, you wouldn't believe that any of them has the brain-power to plan a heist so elaborate. The film is riddled with implausibility and inconsistency, but after awhile you just don't care because you're having so much fun watching these three kids stick it to the mean and heartless adults.

       Catch That Kid features pretty good performances from its three leads – Kristin Stewart, Max Thieriot, and Corbin Bleu. Stewart is especially engaging and this young actress has the goods to be a star with the right material and a little guidance. Jennifer Beals and Sam Robards are ok in an after-school special sort of way as Stewart's clueless parents.

       Because Catch That Kid is a family film, I have to admit I was somewhat taken aback at the lack of consequences for the choices these pre-teen characters made. Stewart's character manipulates situations and people by lying and, when she gets caught after the robbery, is reprimanded with nothing more than a cursory 'You know that was wrong'. While it is easy to understand the desperation behind her decisions, it is worrisome that there isn't a stronger message here regarding the use of common sense and lawful means to overcome problems. But then, that would have been an entirely different movie.

       My other problem with the film was the ending, which wraps things up in a tidy little bow with a solution to the family's money problems that would have made the entire robbery unnecessary had someone only had the foresight to think of it sooner.

       Catch That Kid is out now on DVD in a choice of 1.85:1 widescreen or 1.33:1 full screen formats and 5.1 Dolby Digital. Bonus features include full-length commentary by the three young actors and several deleted scenes.

       Catch That Kid is an inconsistent, but enjoyable, action flick the whole family can enjoy.