Shorts (2009)

Director:

Robert Rodriguez

Writers:

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

Release Date:

21 August 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Family | Fantasy

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

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

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:

After Laser Short sets the Wishing Rock on the catapult, Loogie Short says (40:48) "We could have taken care of that world peace problem." Laser replies "Now you're talking" and starts back to get the rock, but The Baby released the arm telepathically and thinks "My calculations show you would've figured out a way to screw it up." Both the world peace and an end to world hunger (34:46) could be achieved by the extermination of mankind.

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:

Helvetica Black: How'd you like your braces up your nose?
[Toe smiles. No braces on his teeth]
Helvetica Black: Your braces! Where are they?
Toe Thompson: Up my nose.

Movie Connections:

References Scarface (1983)

Soundtrack:

Summer Never Ends

Good natured fun

Shorts is amusing and doesn't take itself seriously at all. It resembles Malcolm in the Middle, with the central kid's narration, the high-speed montages, and exaggeratedly eccentric characters.

The plot winds around a strange rainbow-colored rock that grants wishes. Inevitable, this results as you would expect, with carelessly thought out wishes backfiring for some good-natured slapstick comedy.

The actors make a pretty good ensemble cast, and seem to be enjoying making the film, but I think they know there won't be a lot of Oscars handed out for this movie. The montages are used as a buffer between scenes. They simulate video camera rewinding, or the kid's confused memory right after eating too much sugary cereal--I'm not sure. But I do think they're used too much, making them distracting. The story is told in non-linear style, jumping from the present to flashbacks and back again, but this seems more of an unnecessary gimmick that really doesn't help tell the story.

The adult characters are nutty and over the top, but the actors faithfully go for the silliness and do adequately. The child actors do well too, especially newcomer Jolie Vanier, as the bitter rich girl bully. She has one of the few characters with enough dimension (albeit comically exaggerated) to logically evolve throughout the story, and plays the role to the hilt. Her facial expressions are hilarious, and dominate every scene she's in. This actress has a promising future.

What the movie makers were wishing for was a simple kids' comedy, and that's just what this film is, no more--no less. It's all just some good clean fun, clowning around for its own sake.