The Robert Rodriguez kiddie digital filmmaking experience remains a half-coherent, sugar-coated blast of prepubescent id. This one holds together so much better than, say, Spy Kids 3, but is less of a deranged monstrosity (here meant as a compliment) than Sharkboy and Lavagirl. The gross-out bodily fluids humor is much more in line with the madcap tone of the film than the relatively earnest Spy Kids 4, which was ruined by fart jokes.
Rodriguez pays tribute to his friend and mentor, Quentin Tarantino, with a genuinely clever narrative structure that is simultaneous an anthology film (a bunch of Shorts, if you will) and a nested whole, a la Pulp Fiction. The story revolves around a magic wishing stone. Of course every wish goes wrong, not because of a problem with the stone, but because every character is really bad at making wishes.
And as with all of Rodriguez’s films, Shorts maintains an element of introspection among the chaos. Here, he reckons with families and friendships falling apart at the seams despite being more connected than ever via technology.
To be honest, I might be underrating this a bit. I went in with gutter-level expectations but I got a kick out of the twisted visuals and laughed a few times in spite of my better judgment. It’s that prepubescent id I never quite grew out of, I guess.
Is It Good?
Nearly Good (4/8)
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