'Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker' (PG)(out of four)

More a tribute to the light-hearted glory days of James Bond than a parody, the energetic and deliriously silly family film "Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker" is a welcome surprise. Here's a movie alive with bizarre characters and preposterous situations -- a movie that ignores family film conventions in a relentless pursuit of creativity and laughs.

Yes, it stars a kid and exists in a ludicrous world of teenage secret agents and eccentric mad scientists who want to rule the world, but it's not surprising that "Alex Rider" is far more entertaining -- in an improvisational, spontaneous kind of way -- than the last few brooding, overblown James Bond borefests.

Drafting a screenplay from his own popular series of children's books, author Anthony Horowitz and director Geoffrey Sax conceive "Alex Rider" as an intense spectacle, leaving its quirky sense of humor to an impressive ensemble of actors who take their parts and run with them.

At the story's center is Alex Rider (Alex Pettyfer), just another teenager stressing out about finding a date to the dance until something tragic happens to his uncle -- a secret agent played in a cameo by Ewan McGregor -- while away on "business."

In the aftermath, Alex discovers strange men stealing things from his house. Chasing them, he suddenly finds himself being attacked, and when he follows the clues as to who these thugs are, he suddenly finds himself in a secret MI6 office, being recruited to serve his country.

It turns out his uncle was no ordinary businessman.

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"Stormbreaker" may seem like a standard secret agent story, but it's not something that's told in a standard way. Sax takes the formula and gives it a dose of caffeine, sending the story forward in a series of kinetic, rapid-fire sequence that only slows down enough for the occasional chase or punch line.

Early on, we see Alex take on a whole gang with little more than a rope -- he's a black belt karate expert, you see -- and later he's racing an ATV towards a plane accelerating down the runway. Not exactly Earth-shattering concepts, but when you have a 14-year-old defying gravity, or parachuting into London to save the prime minister, it's a playful twist to the same old story.

The movie's biggest delights are the side characters Horowitz sprinkles in all along the way. Mickey Rourke plays the evil, wealthy genius who hatches a plan to settle a childhood feud with the prime minster by donating dozens of high-powered computers to the nation's schools that will then release a deadly virus -- an intriguing mix of modern and classical villainy.

As he struts about in his neon suit, making threats, gorging on food or cackling, Rourke takes a one-note monster and turns him into a complete symphony of the bizarre.

Bill Nighy, though, is the real hero of the day. Giving his prim-and-proper commander perfect posture, an arrogant, no-nonsense demeanor and just enough awkwardness to make him comical, Nighy is the one winking back at the audience through all these theatrics.

All things considered, "Alex Rider" isn't a great action film, family drama or comedy, but instead an improbably fascinating mix of all three.

As the story takes one peculiar turn after another, it becomes clear that it's a wild ride with something for everyone -- quick action for the kids, deliciously absurd characters that will fascinate parents, and above all, that buoyant sense of fun and showmanship that's been missing from even the James Bond films for a few decades.