Genre: Family/Adventure
Director: Robert Rodriguez
Cast: Jon Cryer, James Spader, Leslie Mann, William H. Macy, Jimmy Bennett, Leo Howard, Jolie Vanier, Trevor Gagnon, Devon Gearhart
RunTime: 1 hr 35 mins
Released By: Warner Bros
Rating: PG
Official Website: http://shortsmovie.warnerbros.com/

Opening Day: 1 October 2009

Synopsis:

SHORTS is set in the suburb of Black Falls, where all the houses look the same and everyone works for BLACK BOX Unlimited Worldwide Industries Incorporated, whose Mr. Black’s BLACK BOX is the ultimate communication and do-it-all gadget that’s sweeping the nation.  Other than keeping his parents employed, however, Mr. Black’s BLACK BOX has done nothing for 11-year-old Toe Thompson (Jimmy Bennett), who just wants to make a few friends... until a mysterious rainbow-colored rock falls from the sky, hits him on the head and changes everything.  The Rainbow Rock does Mr. Black’s BLACK BOX one better: it grants wishes to anyone who holds it.

Movie Review:

Robert Rodriguez is firmly back in family-friendly mode with his colourful kids fantasy "Shorts". Indeed, this is not the "Grindhouse" gore hound Rodriguez at work- this is the Rodriguez who gave us "Spy Kids" or "The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3D". Thanks to Rodriguez’s hyperactive imagination, there are mini-aliens, walking crocodiles, pterodactyls and a big slimy green booger monster all crammed into a frenetic 95-min affair.

As if knowing the attention span of his target demographic, Rodriguez deliberately breaks the story up into segments (or "Shorts" for short) and tosses them around in no particular order assisted by some appropriate on-screen graphics. Each segment is labelled an episode and "Shorts" surges forward, rewinds, pauses and then courses forward again skipping joyously from one episode to another.

It must’ve worked- since the kids around this reviewer in the cinema sat quite transfixed in their seats throughout the entire duration of the movie. Adults, though, be warned- Rodriguez’s similarly hyperactive zeal will likely be more irksome than entertaining. Just when you think you’ve pieced together two "Shorts" and are ready to find out what happens next, Rodriguez inserts another in-between and brings you back in time once more.

Were the shorts more consistent, his movie would probably be a less bumpy ride. But not every one of Rodriguez’s segments is equally inspired. Perhaps surprisingly, it is the shorts with the kids that are in fact more enjoyable. Certainly, the movie’s funniest bits come from one of the first episodes where three brothers, Loogie, Lug and Laser, first stumble upon the magical wishing rock. And in case you’re wondering, yes that’s the short where the most amusing 'tele-phone-nesis' part of the trailer hails from.

Not so interesting are Jon Cryer and Leslie Mann’s short as narrator Toe Thompson’s 'miscommunicated' parents, which also features James Spader’s power-hungry Black Box Incorporated chairman Mr Black. Cryer and Mann are both gifted comedic actors; but Rodriguez seems to have exhausted his imagination by the time he finished writing for the tykes, so much so that he relies on an excessive amount of physical comedy to elicit the laughs.

Ditto for William H. Macy’s germ-phobic short about an oversized boogie monster all too eager to devour his boogie master- however well-intentioned it may be at advising kids against picking their noses, there’s just not enough inventiveness to warrant its addition. The same can also be said of its messy and noisy climactic scene- the last short where every character previously in their own respective shorts finally comes together- that plays too frenziedly for its own good.

And if you’re counting, that means only 2 out of the 5 shorts (well 5 and a half, if you’re counting the one before the opening credits) are actually worth watching. Pity though because these two shorts are genuinely imaginative, possessing the same freshness and spontaneity that first made Rodriguez’s "Spy Kids" such a success. Not forgetting of course the very talented group of young actors Rodriguez has assembled for his adventure- most notably Trevor Gagnon as the kid who’s not so good at the art of wishing.

Credit though must go to Rodriguez for creating an original family-friendly movie that is not casted in the genre-clichés of typical Hollywood family fare. Had this fast-paced, cute and colourful "Shorts" used its wishing rock for a little more imagination and inspiration, it would have been a much more enjoyable affair. Without that bit of alien intervention from the sky (where the rock came from), "Shorts" is enjoyable but only ever so slightly.

Movie Rating:



("Shorts" is tall in energy but shorter on imagination.)

Review by Gabriel Chong