Shorts (2009)

Director:

Robert Rodriguez

Writers:

Robert Rodriguez (written by)
Álvaro Rodríguez (additional material)

Release Date:

21 August 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Family

Tagline:

Not So TALL Tales From The Director Of 'Spy Kids'

Plot:

A young boy's discovery of a colorful, wish-granting rock causes chaos in the suburban town of Black Falls when jealous kids and scheming adults alike set out to get their hands on it. |

Plot Keywords:

Young Boy | Rock | Flying Saucer | What Happened To Epilogue | Costume Party

Cast

Jimmy Bennett	...	Toe Thompson
Jake Short	...	Nose Noseworthy
Kat Dennings	...	Stacey Thompson
Trevor Gagnon	...	Loogie
Devon Gearhart	...	Cole Black
Jolie Vanier	...	Helvetica Black
Rebel Rodriguez	...	Lug
Leo Howard	...	Laser
Leslie Mann	...	Mom Thompson
Jon Cryer	...	Dad Thompson
William H. Macy	...	Dr. Noseworthy
James Spader	...	Mr. Black
Angela Lanza	...	Teacher
Alejandro Rose-Garcia	...	John / Boyfriend
Cambell Westmoreland	...	Blinker #1

Also Known As:

Shorts: The Adventures of the Wishing Rock (USA) (long title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for mild action and some rude humor.

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

USA | United Arab Emirates

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:PG (certificate #45204) | UK:PG | Ireland:PG | Singapore:PG | Argentina:Atp | Philippines:G | Mexico:A

Filming Locations:

Austin, Texas, USA

Company:

Imagenation Abu Dhabi FZ

Trivia:

Black Falls Community is in the shape of the wishing rock.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Loogie wished to have the telephone gone, he was eating cereal and clearly wasn't holding the rock when he made the wish. The rock was on the table next to his bowl.

Quotes:

Toe Thompson: What's wrong with me?
Cole Black: What's wrong with you? Oh buddy where do I begin?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien: (#1.33)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

Summer Never Ends

Skittles overload

One-man film crew Robert Rodriguez' moonlighting into kiddie fare has at best produced mixed results, here epitomized by his latest juvenile project, "Shorts," a wishy-washy tale about kids finding their inner heroes and saving their smalltime town. Returning to the hyper-earnest mode of his "Spy Kids" trilogy, director-writer-DP-editor Rodriguez nonetheless can't muster enough cheerio for anyone but the youngest viewers to get over an overabundance of special effects and a monotonous feeling.

As well as pertaining to the stature of its young protagonists, the title of Rodriguez' wishful thinking tale concerns his narrative's central gimmick: a series of short episodes shown as per the whims of its young narrator Toe Thompson (Jimmy Bennett). Told in a fractured timeline, the series of interlocked episodes show how the town of Black Falls is dominated by the techno mogul (James Spader), and how a group of kids -- including Toe -- change the neighborhood for the better with the help of a rainbow-colored stone that grants the wishes of anyone who possesses it.

Save for the campy blink-first-standoff between two kids, "Shorts"' subplots never evolve into a compelling unit, with Rodriguez running amok with his "homemade" CGI -- perhaps reflecting the unrestrained euphoria of a kid getting his hands on a magic stone -- that does nothing to add to the novelty of its uncharacteristic style. Ultimately predictable and reeking of half-assed effort, the whole procedure gets exhausting after a few rounds of cutesy moxie, though at least Rodriguez wisely sticks to the context of his movie's title and keeps his film reasonably concise.