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Taylor Dooley, Cayden Boyd, David Arquette, Kristin Davis, George Lopez

Would it be fun to watch a movie dreamed up by a 10 year old? If you remember the stories you made up at the age of 10, you’d probably say, “no”. While there’s a certain charm to stories dreamed up by kids for kids they just can’t deliver the goods for a movie. Rodriguez lately has seemed intent on producing interesting work on the cheap doing everything himself. While this independent approach is admirable most of the work he has produced this way has been frequently visually stunning but pedestrian in all other regards. 3-D movies were sold on their gimmick during the 50’s. While at least two good movies were produced in 3-D (“Dial ‘M’ For Murder” and “House of Wax”) most were junk sold on the novelty of 3-D. Sadly such is the case for “The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl”. Although created by a child for children, the film never overcomes the shortcomings of the weak screenplay written by Robert Rodriguez with his son Marcel (“Racer Max”). You’ll watch “Sharkboy and Lavagirl” for the novelty of the 3-D effects but not much more. Rodriguez does just about everything you can imagine on this movie even writing a song entitled "Dream Dream Dream Dream" that sounds like Rodriguez is ripping off Danny Elfman (Elfman should sue for royalities it sounds so much like something he would have written).

--- Max is a bright and sensitive child. When he has to write an essay on what he did in school for summer vacation, he spins an elaborate story about the origins of Sharkboy and Lavagirl claiming that it did happen. He keeps a journal of their adventures in his “dream” book. While his teacher (George Lopez) likes Max’s work he advises the boy to get his head out of the clouds and make real friends at the school. Picked on by a bully at the school Max (Cayden Boyd)has his dream book stolen. One day at school during a very bad storm Sharkboy (Taylor Lautner)and Lavagirl (Taylor Dooley) show up seeking Max’s help in defeating Mr Electric (also George Lopez) a bad guy terrorizing Lavagirl’s home world. It seems that Max’s dream has become a reality. ---

The film was shot on high definition video so there’s no grain or other issues related to the overall look of the film. Overall the image of the film is quite pleasing in the 2-D version of the film. There was some pixilation that marred the picture a little bit but no other issues with the look of the film. Colors have the typical saturated look one would expect of a comic book or children’s fantasy. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is pretty good with all sorts of effects flying out of various speakers (much like the stuff that continually flies at the screen in the 3-D version of the movie). The overall look of the film is flat with not a great deal of texture and the 2-D version of the movie highlights how rudimentary and bad some of the visual effects compared to other films today. Most of these effects might be considered cutting edge about 10 years ago but are rather unimpressive today. ---

We get a short documentary on the production of the film. Rodriguez is a fine host for the documentary and the footage shows Rodriguez working with his imaginative son on the movie. No major revelations here and kids may watch this once to find out the nuts and bolts of making a film. ---

Rodriguez juggles a lot of jobs here and not all of them well. While engaging and entertaining, “The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl’ is as disposable as most of the Disney fare the company produced during the 70’s. Sure it’s impressive that a 10 year old could come up with the material for this film but it’s still the creation of a 10 year old realized by adult with tremendous resources. That doesn’t make it a good movie just a novelty. Like most of the 3-D movies from the 50’s this will be forgotten very soon by most kids and is as disposable as today’s newspaper (or this review).