Explore
 Lists  Reviews  Images  Update feed
Categories
MoviesTV ShowsMusicBooksGamesDVDs/Blu-RayPeopleArt & DesignPlacesWeb TV & PodcastsToys & CollectiblesComic Book SeriesBeautyAnimals   View more categories »
Listal logo

An average movie

Posted : 8 years, 8 months ago on 18 July 2015 04:56

Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from this movie but since it was one of the last movies directed by Robert Rodriguez that I haven't seen yet, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it wasn't really good, I'm afraid. Basically, when it was released, even though it wasnโ€™t a massive flop, it was still barely noticed and the whole thing sure didn't get much love. In fact, it all started more than 10 years ago, with the surprise success of 'Spy Kids'. Suddenly, Rodriguez really started to believe that he was actually good in the family-friendly genre when, in fact, 'Spy Kids' was never really good to start with and the movies he made afterwards were increasingly disappointing. Eventually, this one might not even be his worse one ('Spy Kids 3' was just too abysmal) but it wasnโ€™t really far behind. Indeed, the story was terribly generic and boring, the kids all delivered some really weak performances and I seriously had a hard time to care about the damned thing. To conclude, to be honest, my rating might be actually too generous here and I really don't think it is worth a look, except if you are dying to watch every single movie directed by Robert Rodriguez.


0 comments, Reply to this entry

In Short: Insufferable...

Posted : 13 years, 11 months ago on 13 April 2010 02:51

"That's it! Say hello to my little friend!"


Beginning with Spy Kids in 2001, Robert Rodriguez has carved out a profitable second career creating children's movies to complement the bloody, violent, adult-themed action flicks he's notorious for making (Desperado, Sin City, From Dusk Till Dawn, etc). And look, it's perfectly understandable that Rodriguez wishes to give his R-rated instincts a rest on occasion to focus on family entertainment for the sake of his offspring (and perhaps his own inner child). Spy Kids suggested this new direction was a good idea, but then Spy Kids 2 destroyed this potential, Spy Kids 3-D defecated on the corpse, and The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl made life harder to live. 2009's Shorts denotes Rodriguez's latest round of juvenile antics, and it further dents a once-promising filmmaking career. In short (excuse the pun), this is a comedy with no laughs, an action flick that's never exciting, and a digital spectacle with dodgy special effects.



Utilising the same type of structure that served Rodriguez well on Sin City, the narrative of Shorts is told through a number of bite-sized vignettes and concerns a few kids in a small Texan suburb who come into possession of a colourful wish-granting space rock. Like every film of this ilk, the main character - Toby "Toe" Thompson (Bennett) - is a young, dorky nerd. His parents largely ignore him, and practically every soul in town picks on him; from the bullies to the school teachers to his own sister (Dennings). Sound familiar yet? A bitchy little girl in the form of Helvetica Black (Vanier) is also introduced, who picks on the protagonist but who is destined to abandon her bitchy ways by the film's end. Basically, the crux of the story involves those in the neighbourhood attempting to steal the wish-granting space rock to use for their own means. First thing our hero Toby does is wish for friends, and he receives some arse-kicking alien pals. Indeed, Shorts is the kind of candy-coated wish-fulfilment fantasy that every dorky kid wishes could happen to him/her.


Assuming his proverbial stance as an all-in-one filmmaking machine, Rodriguez (the director, writer, cinematographer, editor, scorer, etc) more or less whips up a live-action Saturday morning cartoon with Shorts. The film doesn't even pretend to be a quality family film - it's just a grade-schooler's idea book brought to life to please Rodriguez's children. Due to the jumbled up nature of the narrative structure, it's not long before the storyline may even lose an adult. Maybe it's so simple a four-year-old child could understand it, but, as Groucho would say, "Run out and find me a four year old child. I can't make head nor tail out of it". Did Rodriguez figure that jumbling up the narrative sequence would be funny or unique? Because it isn't - it's just plain annoying. As the short stories progress and the climax draws nearer, it becomes apparent the film is only leading to a rote lesson about family togetherness and the drawbacks of technology.



Disappointingly, the rules of the wishing rock seem half-thought-out and inconsistent - sometimes characters use one wish to retract whatever they've inadvertently unleashed, but at other times they run for their lives while holding the rock! At one point in the climax, a menace is attacking the town. The kids take turns with the wishing rock in order to transform themselves into something to defeat the villain. Why?! The menace was created with one wish, so why not just undo it with another wish? There's no logic to anything that happens. Added to this, the film never provokes any awe, and the premise opens up room for far more imagination than what is delivered here. By the end, when everyone's learned a lesson and the universe has re-righted itself, one will just be wishing for Rodriguez to climb out of the sandbox and get started on those Sin City sequels pronto!


Aimed at youngsters with short attention spans, Shorts constantly barrels ahead, dispersing cringe-worthy moments of "humour" and allowing irritating, camera-mugging actors to take centre stage (Jimmy Bennett in particular is insufferable). Jolie Vanier is the only performer in the movie whose acting is worth a fig. In fact, the talented young Vanier is the only good thing about this movie (it's a shame she wasn't the central character). Look, there's almost no doubt that young kids will be rapt during Shorts, but any parent who's forced into watching the movie with their kid will constantly wish for it to be over. All the best kids' movies are those which can be enjoyed by adults, and alas Shorts offers nothing for adults to latch onto.

1.7/10



0 comments, Reply to this entry