If you've come from our parental review of this film and wish to return to it, simply click on your browser's BACK button.
Otherwise, use the following link to read our complete Parental Review of this film.
QUICK TAKE:
Children's/Action: Chaos rules when the residents of a suburban Texas town get their hands on a magical stone that grants wishes to any and all who possess it.
PLOT:
The Thompson family lives in the corporate community of Black Falls, Texas. Mom and Dad Thompson (LESLIE MANN and JON CRYER) work for the local Microsoft-like company, where they are bullied daily by the megalomaniacal CEO Mr. Black (JAMES SPADER). Their son, Toby (JIMMY BENNETT), goes to the local school, where he is bullied on a daily basis by Black's daughter and son, Helvetica (JOLIE VANIER) and Cole (DEVON GEARHART).
One day, a magical rock finds its way into Toby's possession, and it grants him any wish he can think of. Soon, he has friends (the alien variety), his braces are off, and he no longer fears his tormentors.
But the rock has a way of making the rounds of Black Falls. Toby's friend, Loogie (TREVOR GAGNON), and his brothers (REBEL RODRIGUEZ AND LEO HARRIS) get into a crazy backyard adventure with the rock. Toby's sister, Stacey (KAT DENNINGS), unknowingly uses the rock to force her boyfriend to "grow up." A local scientist, Dr. Noseworthy (WILLIAM H. MACY), suddenly has all of his experiments work perfectly - a little too perfectly - as a result of the stone's power. This has potentially dangerous consequences for his son, "Nose" (JAKE SHORT) And so on.
Eventually, the rock finds its way into several hands at a corporate dinner party, setting off a chain of events that threatens not only Black Falls but the entire planet unless the kids can put things right.
OUR TAKE: 6.5 out of 10
It's interesting that filmmaker Robert Rodriguez should craft his latest kiddie action flick as a cautionary tale aimed squarely at workaholic parents. This is coming from a man who not only writes and directs his own films, but also serves as their editor and cinematographer. He also provides the musical score. If the man ever gets around to taking cooking lessons, I'm sure he'll also be the on-set caterer on his next flick.
Clearly, Rodriguez is protective of his vision, and the best thing going for his movies is they don't spring forth from a committee. "Shorts" benefits from all of the madcap energy, visual inventiveness, and cheeky humor that the writer-director brought to his earlier "Spy Kids" flicks in between making such grown-up B pics as "Desperado," "From Dusk Til Dawn" and one-half of the "Grindhouse" double feature a couple of years back.
"Shorts" is set in the idyllic, suburban community of Black Falls. Everyone who lives there works for a Microsoft-like corporation headed by the greedy, hyper-competitive Mr. Black (James Spader), who is kind of a cross between Bill Gates and Gordon Gekko. Black charges the Thompsons (Jon Cryer and Leslie Mann), husband-and-wife staffers, with coming up with the next big product to keep the company competitive. Just as Black bullies them in the boardroom, their son Toby (Jimmy Bennett) is bullied by Black's son and daughter (Jolie Vanier and Devon Gearhart) in the classroom at the local school.
Into all their lives drops a magical stone that grants the wishes of any and all who possess it. The rock ends up getting passed around Black Falls. In most cases, it grants each wish in as literal a way as possible. For instance, when Toby's big sister (Kat Dennings) wishes that her boyfriend would just grow up, we hear the guy's voice on the other end of the phone freaking out: "Whoa! Stacey, my feet are getting bigger. My arms are getting bigger!" Later in the film, he's a giant lumbering down neighborhood thoroughfares.
"Shorts" is reminiscent of such gee-whiz backyard adventure flicks as "E.T." and "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids." It rather deftly works in a few messages against corporate greed and parenting via remote, even as kids are turning into giant dung beetles and Medieval fortresses are springing forth from the soil of suburbia. The whimsical hijinks come fast and furious and will definitely keep tweens and those younger glued to their seat, thrilling to characters nicknamed "Toe," "Loogie," and "Nose."
Along the way, there are some inspired running gags, such as a pair of siblings who engage in staring contests that last for days on end. These two aren't main characters, but a sideshow unto themselves who show up throughout the film as comic relief much in the way the Scrat character punctuates the various acts of the "Ice Age" movies.
On the downside, Rodriguez clearly has been hanging around with his good buddy Quentin Tarantino for far too long. He unnecessarily employs a fractured storytelling format here that jumps the plot around from Point A to Point C to Point B to Point E and so forth, confusing those youngest in the audience and robbing the film of its dramatic momentum at times. In addition, the powers of the rock seem to come and go as the film progresses. Some who grip the stone hear a "If you build it, he will come"-like whisper that nudges them to make a wish. Others hold it in their palms and hear nothing.
Sure, those might be the nitpicks of an over-thinking adult. But they are legitimate gripes that keep this good kiddie flick from being a great kiddie flick. Nevertheless, it still rates a solid 6.5 out of 10. (T. Durgin)
![[Screen It]](/images/underground_header.jpg)