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"Sharkboy and Lavagirl" for kids only |
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Written by NED O'REILLY
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Friday, 10 June 2005 |
I read some of the hype in advance of this movie about how director Robert Rodriguez collaborated with his kids to make it. Sure enough Marcel Rodriguez gets screen writing right under her famous dad and the same surname pops up in the cast list of background schoolkids. The story contains classic elements of dreams triumphing over reality, but – in a standard contemporary twist – good does not triumph exactly over evil. It’s more that positive attitudes triumph over negative ones. And in a real statement of current style choices, both actors playing the titular heroes are named Taylor, even though one is a girl and one is a boy.
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"The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D"
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 Entertainment
Art
Directed by Robert Rodriguez
Written by Robert Rodriguez and Racer Rodriguez
Starring Taylor Lautner, Taylor Dooley, Cayden Boyd, George Lopez, David Arquette and Kristin Davis
Rated PG for mild action and some rude humor. |
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When asked to share what he did over the summer with his fourth grade class, Max (Cayden Boyd – another gender-bending name) tells of his two heroes: Sharkboy (Taylor Dooley) and Lavagirl (Taylor Lautner). The audience witnesses an intriguing tale of a boy who swims with benevolent sharks, eventually growing gills and fins, and a girl who can shoot fire out of her hands and, well, just about anywhere on her body. Despite the support of his teacher, Mr. Electricidad (George Lopez), most of the class doesn’t believe Max and a group of bullies lead by the un-aptly named Linus (Jacob Davich) corners him and steals his notebook.
Most of the rest of the film takes place in a dreamworld called Planet Drool that appears to have been created by Max, but I honestly lost track of whether Max was asleep or awake or whether he needed to be one or the other for certain things to happen. Planet Drool is a place where the Stream of Consciousness and the Train of Thought actually materialize and there are a whole lot of sugar-laden mountains, trees, and the like. The film uses the notebook as a talisman of sorts; Linus defaces it and things change for the worse, but the logic ultimately breaks down and the climax is not properly reached.
The target age of the movie seems to be about 10 – the age of all the kids in the film, but many of the images and ideas fall short of that, more toward 5- or 6-year-olds. Sharkboy breaks into a pop/rap song with break dancing moves at one point that seems to have been thrown into the scene. While there’s excitement in the film, not much of it is scary. The closest to frightening is the computer monitor-faced Mr. Electric (Lopez again) who walks around on electric cord legs and employs a pack of electric cord hounds. Yet, Mr. Electric, perhaps because he’s an echo of a friendly teacher, never really intimidates. He just sort of chases. Then there’s some phantom crystalline face whose purpose is unclear.
The mix of age ranges that the film’s ideas target keep it from being any kind of classic. Those hoping for some evidence of Rodriguez’s film technique mastery (based on Sin City) will be disappointed. Besides that, the 3-D effects displayed for over half the movie (whenever the characters visit Planet Drool) are annoying more than intriguing. I found myself removing the cardboard glasses so I could see what was going on. This is a movie for small children with just barely enough to keep the parents or older siblings who have to take them interested. Powered by AkoComment 2.0! |
