Shorts [DVD] [2009]

Product Description

Eleven year-old Toe Thompson is the designated punch bag for the bullies of the suburban community town of Black Falls, where his and everyone else's parents work for Black Box Industries, the makers of the do-it-all gadget that's sweeping the nation. During a freak storm a mysterious Rainbow Rock, which grants wishes to anyone who touches it, falls from the sky. Suddenly the neighbourhood that Toe already finds weird is about to get a lot weirder.As the Rainbow Rock ricochets round the town, from kid to kid, parent to parent, wishes come true and soon throw the entire community into complete disarray. Robert Rodriguez, the director of hit family movie Spy Kids, brings kids an action-packed and hilarious adventure movie with Shorts. All a parent could ask for from a fun-filled wholesome piece of entertainment.

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A fantastical story, relayed in the form of short vignettes by director Robert Rodriguez, Shorts is the story of a magic wishing rock and kids' imaginations gone wild. The film plays a lot like the The Little Rascals films from the 1920's-1940's. It's made up of short, comical episodes that focus on kids' adventures and how imagination drives their play.

When a magical rainbow rock falls from the sky and lands in the middle of tech-town Black Falls, a young boy Toe (Jimmy Bennett) discovers that the rock has the power to grant his every wish. The victim of constant bullying, Toe wishes for friends as unusual as himself and ends up with a posse of aliens who protect him while seriously complicating his life. As narrator, Toby quickly stops the film, explaining that his experience is really the middle of the story, and then rewinds repeatedly to relate various encounters between neighbourhood kids and the magic rock. Each short is its own journey into a kid's imagination where wishes for everything from a treasure hunt, to a fortress guarded by crocodiles, a super smart baby with telepathic powers, and a booger monster grown from one boy's booger are immediately granted. These fantastical wishes wreak havoc on the entire Black Falls community: the children, the technology obsessed, disconnected Black Box employees, and the tyrannical Black Box boss Mr. Black (James Spader).

In the end, the magic rock is a catalyst for change, encouraging kids and adults to work together and inspiring serious reflection regarding one's wishes, dreams, and goals. Rodriguez does a great job of portraying the wildness of kids' imaginations and viewers that delight in over-the-top ridiculousness and the overtly gross will laugh hysterically throughout the film. Unfortunately, those who demand restraint may find it overdone. --Tami Horiuchi