It's a bit like taking a first-grader's finger paintings off the refrigerator and submitting them for a show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Adventures of Sharkboy and Lava Girl in 3-D (2005)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:118
Fresh:23
Rotten:95
Average Rating:4.3/10
Consensus: The decision to turn this kiddie fantasy into a 3-D film was a miscalculation.
Runtime: 1 hr 34 mins
Genre: Childrens
US Box Office: $39,041,112
Synopsis: From the wild imagination of a child and the digital vision of director Robert Rodriguez (creator of the hit “Spy Kids” series as well as the recently acclaimed “Sin City”) comes the magical,... From the wild imagination of a child and the digital vision of director Robert Rodriguez (creator of the hit “Spy Kids” series as well as the recently acclaimed “Sin City”) comes the magical, original, not to mention three-dimensional, family entertainment, THE ADVENTURES OF SHARK BOY & LAVA GIRL IN 3D. THE ADVENTURES OF SHARK BOY & LAVA GIRL IN 3D is written and directed by Robert Rodriguez, based on the intergalactic journeys and superhero stories created by his seven year-old son Racer Max. Sometimes the most amazing superheroes are the ones inside your dreams. So discovers ten-year-old Max (Cayden Boyd), an outcast little boy who has become lost in his own fantasy world in an attempt to escape the everyday worries of dealing with parents (David Arquette and Kristin Davis), school bullies and no-fun summer vacations. But when Max realizes the cool characters, high-flying adventures and incredible secret powers that dwell in his imagination might be far more real than anyone is willing to believe, his whole world changes. Now, Max is blasting off on a mission to Planet Drool where Shark Boy (Taylor Lautner) -- a kid once lost at sea and raised under the watchful fins of sharks only to become half-shark -- and Lava Girl (Taylor Dooley) – a volcanic beauty who emits leaping flames and red-hot rocks – live in a realm of astonishing wonders, one in which the Train of Thought can whisk you off to the mouth-watering Land of Milk and Cookies. Teeming with mountainous roller coasters and violet skies, Planet Drool looks like the perfect kid paradise until Max meets up with the shocking Mr. Electric (George Lopez) and his sidekick Minus (Jacob Davich) who are trying to do away with all dreams forever. With Shark Boy and Lava Girl in trouble, only Max can guide them – by imagining every clever move of their wily escape from Mr. Electric’s Lair. Speedily conjuring up an incredible array of gadgets, gizmos, contraptions and cool ideas . . . Max learns the power of turning his dreams into reality. -- © Dimension Films [More]
Starring: Taylor Dooley, Taylor Lautner, Cayden Boyd, David Arquette
Starring: Taylor Dooley, Taylor Lautner, Cayden Boyd, David Arquette, Kristin Davis, George Lopez
Director: Robert Rodriguez
Director: Robert Rodriguez
Screenwriter: Robert Rodriguez
Producer: Elizabeth Avellan, Robert Rodriguez
Composer: Graeme Revell, John Debney
Studio: Dimension Films
Reviews for Adventures of Sharkboy and Lava Girl in 3-D
The movie is unbelievably ugly. The garish colors Rodriguez loves so much wash out in 3-D.
All the goodwill in the world won't rescue this mess. I suspect any kid who's even half media savvy will be put off as well.
You can't get this kind of full-on sensory-jolt anywhere else, not legally anyway.
Sharkboy & Lavagirl, while noble, imaginative and a huge valentine to family involvement, unfortunately just isn't all that interesting.
It's pretty clear that all those terrific ideas could use a little discipline and maturity before they ever amount to a truly great movie.
The low-tech film looks like a kid's crude drawing, plays like entry-level Game Boy, and is about as nourishing as a Tootsie Pop.
Rodriguez World is a unique cinematic space that only truly inspired children, and child-men, could bring to life.
The story is impossible, the acting generally awful and the 3-D effects so unremarkable that you're tempted to yank off the glasses and watch it with the naked eye.
an hour and a half of bad child actors, non-stop cartoon special effects and another chance for kids to get excited about wearing those uncomfortable 3D glasses
A film that must be watched with a pair of cardboard glasses stuck across one's face. Oh, goodie. This may not be unmitigated joy for persons older than 8 or 9, tops. Just so you know.
Squinting through cardboard glasses you get at the door, you see washed-out colors, blurred images and not enough pop-out to merit the trade-off.
Great effort for a kid, perhaps, but not worthy of the big screen box office.
It's not just that this fable about a picked-on kid whose dreams come true is an excruciatingly dumb kids' movie. It's that it returns us to the bad old days of 3D, when the images were rendered too murky to appreciate.
Not only is it empowering to kids just learning to trust their own ideas, but, like Spy Kids, it reminds kids that fighting is not always the answer.
Rodriguez is a long way off from the energy of the original Spy Kids, and the difference lies between the definitions of "childlike" and "childish."
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