How Alexa PenaVega & Daryl Sabara’s Kids Really Feel About Spy Kids

How Alexa PenaVega and Daryl Sabara’s Kids Really Feel About Spy Kids

Alexa PenaVega and Daryl Sabara will always be superheroes in their households.

Especially because the Spy Kids costars' own children are now huge fans of their beloved 2001 action movie.

But that wasn't always the case, as PenaVega revealed her eldest Ocean, 6, took some time falling in love with the classic family film.

"I remember showing it to him years back and he was not interested at all," the 37-year-old—also mom to son Kingston, 5, and daughter Rio, 3, with husband Carlos PenaVega—told E! News' Will Marfuggi in an exclusive interview. "He was a big Sharkboy and Lavagirl fan. I was like, 'What the heck, dude?! You're cheating on me with Sharkboy and Lavagirl!' It was total betrayal."

Fast forward to today and all three of her youngsters now bond over Juni and Carmen's crime-fighting adventures.

"Because his little siblings watched him watch the movie and he thinks it's so cool now," PenaVega continued, "all of them are now watching the movie."

And Ocean's not just rewatching the film. He's also introducing it to new audiences.

"It's funny, I never really thought he thought anything of it until we were all on an airplane," she recounted. "I watch him grab the shirt of the guy next to him and he's like, 'Hey mister, you see my mom back there? She's in Spy Kids. And that's my dad, he's in Big Time Rush.' I'm like, 'What are you doing?!'"

While PenaVega's kids are bragging about their famous parents, Sabara's little ones with wife Meghan Trainor—Riley, 5, Barry, 2, and 5-month-old Mikey—still have trouble believing that's their dad on screen.

Hubert Vestil/Getty Images

"He'll do some double takes like, 'That's you?!'" Sabara, 34, joked to E! of Riley. "Or, if someone recognizes me, he'll go, 'How do they know you?' And I'm like, 'Don't worry about it. It's all good.'"

And though it’s been 15 years since their last outing as Carmen and Juni—the duo reprised their roles in 2002’s Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams, 2003’s Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over and appeared in 2011’s Spy Kids: All the Time in the World—the franchise continues to mean a lot to the onscreen siblings.

So, to celebrate Spy Kids' 25th anniversary, PenaVega and Sabara recently surprised kids attending the Salvation Army's summer camp with a day of spy-themed fun and activities.

"It's so surreal, it honestly doesn't make sense that kids are still watching it today," Sabara reflected. "I think it just holds up to what a fun movie it is that 25 years later it still feels fresh."

Salvation Army

As for what lesson the costars want kids to take away from the movie, PenaVega emphasized "dreaming big" and being unafraid to follow their ambitions, just like Juni and Carmen.

Sabara echoed, "They had no fear. They used their imaginations and they dreamed big."

And, ultimately, PenaVega reminded fans, "Family wasn't just blood. It was a community coming together and working together to do good."

In honor of Spy Kids' 25th anniversary, keep reading to see the film's stars then and now.

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