At one point Rodriguez freezes the action (complete with the remote control pause icon on screen), then rewinds. With Toe as narrator, "Shorts" leaps back and forth in time, rewinding like a big-screen DVD. Perhaps thinking that the story line was too basic, Rodriguez ramps up the action-adventure madly like a filmmaking kid might do if he spent the day guzzling a six pack of his parents' Red Bull. Toe is bullied at school and living a miserable young life until a magic Rainbow Rock falls from the sky and whispers, "Make a wish." "Shorts" tells the story of an 11-year-old named Toe Thompson ( Jimmy Bennett, recently on screen in "Orphan"). If you know his work, you know he never hesitates to experiment while cranking out films from Troublemaker Studios, his Austin movie production fiefdom.Ī zeal to push the envelope has ventured a little too far over the edge this time, however. Rodriguez alternates between violence-riddled affairs aimed at adults ("Sin City," "Grindhouse") and comedies for youngsters. "Shorts" pales in comparison to the first couple of "Spy Kids" adventures (rollicking fun in 20), for instance. The problem from this aisle seat is that Rodriguez has turned out far superior comedies aimed at kids in the past. It's full of whiz-bang gadgetry and age-appropriate gross-out humor (giant booger monster, anyone?) best appreciated by kids not yet into their teen years. Parents will, no doubt, be renting this electronic babysitter for a long time to come."Shorts," Robert Rodriguez's goofy kiddie comedy made up of short stories featuring short kids wearing short pants, comes up more than a little short as family entertainment. Rodriguez’s technical wizardry is less showy here than in his other recent outings, which helps Shorts connect with kids on a basic human level. (None of that Pixar kind of humor that appeals to kids on one level and adults on another for Rodriguez.) Vanier makes a stunning film debut as Toe’s nemesis, Helvetica Black, a Veruca Salt type of spoiled rich girl who stuffs Toe into garbage cans. The action never pauses long enough to become tiresome, though most of the film’s rude humor is directed squarely at young viewers’ sensibilities. The story structure is kiddie postmodern, as the film cuts forward and backward in chapters as events rewind or fast-forward as though controlled by a digital switch (hence the title Shorts). The story follows tweener Toe (Bennett), who finds a multicolored stone that can grant every wish – a wishing rock that creates havoc as it passes from hand to hand. The suburban setting of Black Falls is a company town where everyone’s family works for Black Box Industries, the makers of the ubiquitous gadgets that have an endless array of functions and shape-shifting abilities (something like Transformers). There are also some cultural gibes at our ever-growing dependence on impersonal technological gadgets featuring applications designed to master every aspect of life while dampening our native creativity and imagination. The moral lesson is no more complicated than “be careful what you wish for.” The story belongs completely to the kids, with the adult talent all capably doing their thing while letting the spotlight shine primarily on their young castmates. In Shorts, that includes a booger monster, crocodiles running upright, plastic-encased germophobes, and more. Filmmaking has turned into a family business for this father of five (from a family of 10 siblings), and that’s a good thing in his kid pics because Rodriguez really does seem to have a direct line into what makes the little rascals laugh and relate. A look through the cast and crew list will find several other members of the extended Rodriguez family peppered among its ranks. Here, son Rebel Rodriguez supplied many of the film’s ideas, as did son Racer for 2005’s The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3-D. (In Shorts, Rodriguez is listed as the film’s writer, director, co-producer, cinematographer, co-editor, and contributing music composer.) Additionally, the kid-oriented films are usually family outings. All are comedic action romps highlighted by their homegrown flavor of technological wizardry and Rodriguez’s near-total creative control. This time around it’s another family film for Rodriguez, whose filmmaking career at this point has two modes: kid pics and grisly adult fare.
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