Review - The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl (2005)

     Hey guys, Chuck here. You guys might recall that last month, during HallowScream, I reviewed Grindhouse, a double feature release directed by Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. Well, since I've already reviewed Tarantino film's, I thought I'd discuss one of Robert Rodriguez's many directorial efforts. Now, aside from his films made for an adult audience such as Desperado, From Dusk til Dawn, Machete, and Sin City, Robert Rodriguez's most noteworthy films are his films for children, such as the Spy Kids franchise, and the subject of today's review: The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl.  Inspired by the concepts and characters from the dreams of his sons Rocket, Racer, and Rebel, Robert Rodriguez shot the movie in anaglyph-3D, which is the style of 3D using the red and blue glasses. This would mark the second use of this type of 3D after Spy Kids 3: Game Over. But, let's not get into the technicals of the 3D technology used for the film, let's discuss the film. This is The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl. 

    The movie opens with Max, played by Cayden Boyd, telling the story of how he met Sharkboy, played by Taylor Lautner, and Lavagirl, played by Taylor Dooley. Unfortunately, no one in his class believes him, from his classmates, to his teacher Mr. Electricidad, played by George Lopez, to even his own parents, played by Kristin Davis and David Arquette. The only one who believes Max is Mr. Electricidad's daughter Marissa, played by Sasha Pieterse. Max, who jots down his dreams in a book he calls his "dream journal," has his journal stolen by a classmate named Linus, played by Jacob Davich. The next day, in the midst of a series of tornadoes, Linus is told to return Max's journal, and after a bit of over the top performances by both Linus and Mr. Electricidad, Sharkboy and Lavagirl burst into the classroom to collect Max, needing his help to stop "the Darkness" from destroying Planet Drool, which is an entire world made by Max's dreams, and the dreams of other children. Upon arriving at Planet Drool via a shark-shaped rochet ship, Sharkboy, Lavagirl, and Max save a group of kids from an unstoppable coaster being controlled by Mr. Electric, played by George Lopez. After an action scene involving Sharkboy and Lavagirl fighting an army of plugs, along with George Lopez mugging more cartoonishly than Jim Carrey, Mr. Electric sends our trio to the Passage of Time, which drops them into the Dream Graveyard, where they meet another dream creation of Max's: a robot named Tobor, voiced by George Lopez, who suggests taking the Train of Thought to the Land of Milk & Cookies, where his dreams won't become nightmares. Okay, before we continue, I'd like to point out that a number of the actors play multiple roles, and it actually makes sense, as the world of Planet Drool, and all of its inhabitants, are from Max's dreams, it makes sense that the dream characters of Planet Drool would be based on people in Max's life, so actors pulling double duty, or quadruple duty in George Lopez's case, kinda makes sense here. The only three that don't play multiple roles here are Taylor Lautner, Taylor Dooley, and Cayden Boyd. Anyway, enough distractions, back to the story.

    So, Sharkboy, Lavagirl, and Max arrive in the Land of Milk & Cookies, where the giant cookie they're floating down a river of milk on is grabbed by a pair of cookie giants, played by Kristin Davis and David Arquette. After this little encounter, and a cartoonish scene with Mr. Electric and creatures called Plug hounds, Max dreams up a Shark hovercraft, and a vision of a crystal heart, but Mr. Electric and the Plug hounds arrive and attack. Max dreams up a banana split boat, and he, Sharkboy, and Lavagirl use it to escape and travel dowm the Stream of Consciousness. It is here that they learn, from Max;s dream, that they need to retrieve the crystal heart from the Ice Castle, which is home to the Ice Princess, whom Lavagirl is not a fan of due to them being polar opposites: fire and ice. Upon arriving at the Ice Castle, the three are captured by Mr. Electric, and taken to the Dream Lair, where they meet Minus, played by Jacob Davich, who is hellbent on taking over Planet Drool, using the Darkness to do it. Sharkboy, after being triggered into a feral rage called "Shark Frenzy," breaks down the cage they're stuck in, and Max retrieves a copy of his dream journal that Minus got his hands on. After retrieving it, and Lavagirl dieintegrating it, Max, Sharkboy, and Lavagirl return to the Ice Castle to get the Crystal Heart, which freezes Lavagirl. It is here where we meet the Ice Princess, played by Sasha Pieterse, who lets Max take the real crystal heart, as the one they tried to take was a fake. Taking the crystal heart, Max and Sharkboy try to freeze time, but it's too late. Lavagirl frees herself from the ice, and mentions that the only reason it didn't work was because only the Ice Princess could use the crystal heart. Mr. Electric, using electric eels, attacks Sharkboy while he's in water, causing him to nearly drown. Lavagirl, at the cost of her own life, swims down to rescue Sharkboy. Max, upset that he's lost them both, realizes that dreaming for only himself has its concequences. After words of encouragement and advice from Tobor, Max sees Sharkboy revive, and Sharkboy carries Lavagirl to a volcano that appeared in spite of the risk to himself. As Sharkboy carries Lavagirl to the volcano to be revived, Max realizes what she truly is: light. Yeah, one of this movie's subplots is Lavagirl's identity crisis, and wanting to know is she's good or not. And I'd say that light is definitely good. Using her newfound abilities, Lavagirl banishes the darkness, while Sharkboy attacks Mr. Electric with an army of sharks, and Max has his confrontation with Minus, who he ultimately defeats not with fighting, but with friendship. Minus, now a good guy, tells Sharkboy and Lavagirl that everything will return to normal, and Sharkboy and Lavagirl can travel between Planet Drool and Earth all they want, while Mr. Electric goes to Earth to destroy Max in the real world, putting an end to his dreams for good. Yeah, it turns out that Max was dreaming the whole time, and it was time for him to return to the real world. Returning to his classroom, Max is awoken by Mr. Electricidad, who warns of an approaching tornado, which it turns out to be Mr. Electric arriving from Max's dreams. Max's parents, who were starting to drift apart in the opening of the movie, ultimately are rescued from being sucked away by tornadoes by Sharkboy and Lavagirl. Meanwhile, Linus tries to face off against Mr. Electric, but is zapped by his electricity, which destroy's Max's journal. Linus apologizes to Max, but Max brushes it off as an accident and throws the journal away, remarking "there's more dreams where those came from." After a suggestion from Linus, Max hands Marissa the crystal heart, and she uses it to freeze Mr. Electric and destroy him. Max reunites with his parents, who have reconciled. The next day, Max tells of how Sharkboy is searching the oceans for the submarine of his father, a marine biologist whom Sharkboy was separated from in a freak storm in his younger years, while Lavagirl rules over the volcanoes that boil in the ocean. Max, meanwhile, with full support of his parents, finishes building a real version of the robot Tobor, ending the movie. 

    The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl has a lot of good things in it, and a lot of not-so-good things as well. Some of the good things are the performances from the kid actors in the movie. Taylor Dooley, Jacob Davich, and Sasha Pieterse have some of my favorite performances in the movie, while Cayden Boyd was pretty decent, and Taylor Lautner was entertaining. David Arquette and Kristin Davis were pretty good as Max's parents, but George Lopez's over-the-top, cartoonish acting was a bit ridiculous, and easily my least favorite. Well, it's mostly the character of Mr. Electric that annoys me.  However, the teacher, Mr. Electricidad, is one character that George plays in the movie that I actually enjoy. Storywise, the movie is pretty decent, but the cartoonish visual effects, and the obvious spots where the 3D was supposed to take effect, are easily the most distracting part of the movie. While not the worst CG effects I've ever seen, they're nowhere near the level of films like Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, or even the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Overall, this is a fun, entertaining film for kids and families, and I give The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl a rating of 4.25/5. Now, what's actually surprising is that Robert Rodriguez is bringing back the characters of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in a new movie he's directing for Netflix called We Can Be Heroes, which is set to debut on the streaming platform on January 1, 2021. Even more surprising is that Taylor Dooley is reprising her role as a now adult Lavagirl in the movie, so I'm definitely planning to check it out. And yes, I do plan to review it, but not until January 2nd, a day after New Year's Day.