The Spy Who Loved Me (film) big budget was not wasted. Interestingly, while the sets and gimmicks were the most spectacular to date, Bond and the other characters are toned down (there's a minimum of slapstick humour) so that they are more realistic than in other Roger Moore films. Moore gives his best performance in the series ... [Bond and Anya Amasova] are an appealing couple, equal in every way. Film is a real treat – a well acted, smartly cast, sexy, visually impressive, lavishly produced, powerfully directed mix of a spy romance and a war-mission film." Janet Maslin of "The New York Times" considered the
Motifs in the James Bond film series "What's he doing?" with "I think he's attempting re-entry, sir"; a line described by Barnes and Hearn as "sheer magnificence". The films also contain elements of visual humour: when Jaws is dropped into a shark pool in "The Spy Who Loved Me", it is Jaws who bites the shark. The following film, "Moonraker", sees Bond in a comic chase scene with a gondola that becomes a hovercraft, a continuation that Bond author Raymond Benson considered "so dumb that one wonders at what age group the film was really aimed." The music and sound effects are also used for comic effect