Movie Review: "Shorts"
Franck Tabouring
Seen on: August 21, 2009
The players: Director: Robert Rodriguez, Writer: Robert Rodriguez, Cast: Jimmy Bennett, Kat Dennings, Devon Gearhart, Rebel Rodriguez, Leo Howard, Leslie Mann, William H. Macy, Jolie Vanier
Facts of interest: Robert Rodriguez also directed the "Spy Kids" films.
The plot: A small community slips into chaos when a bunch of kids find a magical rock that grants wishes to the one holding it.
Our thoughts: Robert Rodriguez returns to the family genre with “Shorts,” a goofy big-screen adventure I wouldn’t recommend to anyone but younger cinemagoers. The film is eccentric and colorful enough to entertain those with the same age as its main protagonists, but as far as I’m concerned, this one failed to win me over.
“Shorts” jumps at you with absolutely no intriguing plot and mostly unfunny characters, and those are two of the main reasons I simply didn’t enjoyed this one as much as Rodriguez’s “Spy Kids” and its first sequel. The film only runs for 89 minutes, but at times, watching “Shorts” seemed like an eternity.
The little story there is in the film centers on a group of kids who find a magical wishing rock they keep misusing, which obviously leads to a whole bunch of chaos in their community. Things heat up a bit when the situation spins out of control and other children and adults alike set out to get their own hands on the mysterious rock.
That’s pretty much all you get to see in “Shorts.” A kid finds the stone and accidentally triggers mayhem, and before you know it, someone else gets a hold of it and either tries to reverse the mess or kick it up a notch. It works like that for an hour and a half, and it really is as monotonous as it sounds.
Like his previous kid flicks, Rodriguez’s "Shorts" is stuffed with bad special effects and all kinds of weird characters and monsters, and while it may keep the kiddies entertained for the most part (which is a good thing), all it did to me is make me sleepy. To be honest, I’m not exactly thrilled to watch a giant CGI booger attempting to devour a bunch of kids.
Rodriguez also managed to line up some big names for his adult characters, but performances by James Spader, Leslie Mann, William H. Macy and Jon Cryer go unnoticed. The real stars of this film are obviously the kids, a bunch of bipedal alligators, tiny aliens and a telepathic baby.
Freaky quote: "See ya, stooges." – Jolie Vanier
The final word: Hey, this is not the worst children’s movie Rodriguez has made so far, but I would have loved to discover a more innovative story in “Shorts.” I gave this one a fair chance and left the theater disappointed, but I’m glad for all the kids who end up enjoying it.
Article by Franck Tabouring
Reader Comments (4)
Good review. I saw the movie "Shorts" with my nine year old and 8 of his friends last night, and none of us liked the movie. The booger coming to life being the highlight of the movie pretty much tells the story.
Great Movie for kids and adults , who like "clean kid humor. It had no adult content , no mention of sex, gays or lesbians. No double sided jokes,just clean fun. For those who say it was awful and boring, I guess you just like movies that are all the opposite of what is good, for those who did not understand the sequence of the movie , well my daughter got it and she is 7. these days people love bad and hate good, great movie if you really love your kids. i give it a 10
Now, I loved spy kids, but this movie was terrible! This probably in the top 2 worst movies I've ever seen in my life! It's this and monster house! I went with my friend because we love to laugh at kids movies and it was just terrible. Half the theater left and when the giant snot monster came out I almost threw-up. Plus, I didn't even hear many people laughing in the show and the humor was weird. When we left the theater I heard the employees commenting on how it seemed that not many people liked the movie because no many people were leaving. That's how bad it was and I'm not exaggerating. If there's a sequal, I think I'll die.
Thanks you guys for posting this. My Mom just asked me if i ever watched it and im like no and shes like do u want to and im like no it looks like a stupid movie before i even read this. Anyway, you could even tell by the name "Shorts" Now who in the world is gonna wanna see a movie called shorts when it has nothing to do with shorts. Plus, i would never see a movie that involved the words- magic rock, little kids trying to save the world (hate that), and Shorts. Like, would you wanna see a movie involving those words (unless u like watching kids trying to save the world). Some people do though. Anyway, thank you for posting and good-bye.
Sincerely,
Everybody's Favorite Little Movie Critic Monster