The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl Robert Rodriguez Director

The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl is the latest fantasy adventure from {|Robert Rodriguez|}, creator of the Spy Kids franchise, who directs with his virtuositic zest and fills the screen with eye-popping visual effects. Cayden Boyd portrays Max... Read more

The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl is the latest fantasy adventure from {|Robert Rodriguez|}, creator of the Spy Kids franchise, who directs with his virtuositic zest and fills the screen with eye-popping visual effects. Cayden Boyd portrays Max, a lonely ten-year-old who is bullied at school, and whose bickering parents (David Arquette and Kristen Davis) are not on the same page. Max keeps a dream journal that charts the adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl -- tales his classmates ridicule. Imagine Max's astonishment when an Oz-like whirlwind delivers Sharkboy and Lavagirl to his classroom, bringing with them a message that will be irresistible to all young dreamers: We need your help. Come with us. It's off to Planet Drool, where Max's dreams and imagination hold the key to saving the wonderland from being plunged into darkness. The state-of-the-retro-art 3-D effects add some pop to the juvenile story (conceived by Rodriguez's then seven-year-old son, who gets a co-screenwriting credit, and who has a small role besides). While the moral about the power of dreams may be obvious, the movie itself is unceasingly inventive (among Planet Drool's features are a Stream of Consciousness and a Train of Thought). Although George Lopez has a somewhat confusing dual role as Max's compassionate teacher, Mr. Electricidad, and as Mr. Electric, a bad guy on Planet Drool -- and the glowering Sharkboy and Lavagirl are nowhere near as likable and fun as Spy Kids' Juni and Carmen -- youngsters will be carried away by this high-spirited odyssey and by Max's heroic transformation. Less