G-Force was conceived when director Hoyt Yeatman's five-year-old son came home from preschool one day with the class guinea pig. The boy started playing with the little critter, imagining it dressed up as a soldier, and a light went off in daddy's head, "Wouldn't it be cool to make a movie about guinea pigs as spies?" Junior obviously concurred and a tolerable piece of mid-summer hooey began its journey to the silver screen.

Yeatman brought his idea to Jerry Bruckheimer and many months later this mash-up of kiddy humor, high-tech espionage, and explosive digital action (in 3-D no less) reached term. Bruckheimer's blow-em-up formula is fundamentally cartoonish and therefore lends itself to children's entertainment. It's the prolific producer's first 3-D movie and his first involving rodents, and he treats them the same way he does every subject. Think Bolt meets Transformers by way of Kangaroo Jack.

Mixing live action and the kind of digital pyrotechnics that visual effects expert Yeatman applied to Bruckheimer productions such as The Rock and Armageddon -- among dozens of other flicks -- G-Force is skewed toward the male toddler mindset. There are gadgets galore and plenty of high-speed chases. Perhaps the best that can be said is that the flick is never boring and time passes quickly.

With the FBI threatening to shut down a covert unit that uses animals and insects to gather intelligence, a crack team of guinea pigs attempts to prove themselves in the field. The unit is based in LA, to be that much closer to the studios and special effects labs, and was created by a wooly scientist played by Zach Galifianakis (The Hangover) assisted by a blond veterinarian (Kelli Garner) of few words. Their target is Leonard Saber (Bill Nighy), a sinister electronics mogul poised to unleash the wrath of household appliances on an unsuspecting world.

Darwin (voiced by Sam Rockwell) is squad leader, and martial arts pro Juarez (Penelope Cruz) and weapons expert Blaster (Tracy Morgan) are his number one and number two. They're aided by a fly named Mooch, a reconnaissance specialist, and Speckles the mole (Nicolas Cage), a computer whiz. During an exciting sequence at the top of the movie, they avoid an elaborate security system in order to pilfer vital files from Saber's home computer.

Hopes that the mission can save G-Force are dashed; and when the unit is disbanded our furry agents end up in a pet store, where they meet civilian animals, most notably the slothful guinea pig Hurley (Jon Favreau) and an angry hamster called Bucky (Steve Buscemi). Soon they escape their retail confines courtesy of obnoxious patrons and race both the clock and their FBI pursuers to stop Saber from enacting his plan.

Said scheme entails weaponizing all the coffee makers, blenders, microwaves, toasters that Saber's company has produced. For all the high-tech gadgets the guinea pigs are supplied with, including gizmos that let them communicate with human beings, and for all the high-octane stunts that are pulled, the use of cockroaches to gross-out blundering FBI agents is one of the movie's coolest moments. The only mystery surrounds the identity of Saber's unseen accomplice, and the answer is right under the audience's runny nose.

Working off a story concocted by Yeatman and producer David P.I. James, the husband-and-wife screenwriting team billed as The Wibberleys deploys the type of silly humor that appeals to sun-stroked kids. A love triangle between Darwin, Juarez and Blaster provides harmless filler and the latter characters offer the requisite ethnic flavor. With Bad Boys II, Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, The Shaggy Dog, and National Treasure on their resume, it's not surprising Mr. and Mrs. Wibberley aren't overly concerned about logic or continuity. 

Beneath the action and corny jokes, there's the two-part lesson familiar to the targeted minors and their minders: believe in yourself, especially if you're the runt of the litter, and any grouping of individuals (no matter the species) constitutes a family. For all its technical firepower, G-Force presses your face to the sticky multiplex floor, where those squeaky little cousins of guinea pigs forage for stale candies and dusty popcorn balls. 

(Released by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and rated "PG" for some mild action and rude humor.)