Shorts: The Adventures of the Wishing Rock (2009)
Average Rating: 5.2/10
Reviews Counted: 99
Fresh: 43 | Rotten: 56
Shorts has imagination and energy, but most viewers beyond elementary school will likely tire of the kiddie humor and sensory overload.
Average Rating: 5.6/10
Critic Reviews: 23
Fresh: 12 | Rotten: 11
Shorts has imagination and energy, but most viewers beyond elementary school will likely tire of the kiddie humor and sensory overload.
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Average Rating: 2.8/5
User Ratings: 182,861
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Movie Info
A young boy living in a cookie-cutter suburb gets hit on the head with a rainbow-colored rock that grants wishes to anyone who holds it in this family-oriented fantasy comedy from Spy Kids director Robert Rodriguez. All the houses in Black Falls look exactly the same, and everyone who lives in this suburban Shangri-la works for Black Box Unlimited Worldwide Industries Incorporated. A highly profitable company thanks to their latest invention, Mr. Black's Black Box -- an all-in-one communication
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Cast
-
Jimmy Bennett
Toe Thompson -
Jake Short
Nose Noseworthy -
Kat Dennings
Stacey Thompson -
Trevor Gagnon
Loogie -
Devon Gearhart
Cole Black -
Jolie Vanier
Helvetica Black -
Rebel Rodriguez
Lug -
Leo Howard
Laser -
Leslie Mann
Mom Thompson -
Jon Cryer
Dad Thompson -
William H. Macy
Dr. Noseworthy -
James Spader
Mr. Black -
Angela Lanza
Teacher -
Alejandro Rose-Garcia
John/Boyfriend -
Cambell Westmoreland
Blinker #1 -
Zoe Webb
Blinker #2 -
Chris Orf
Goofy Host -
Tina Rodriguez
Female Employee -
Jack Hurst
Male Employee -
Jonathan Breck
Security Guard -
Racer Rodriguez
Bully #1 -
Rocket Rodriguez
Bully #2 -
Elizabeth Avellan
The Baby
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All Critics (102) | Top Critics (23) | Fresh (45) | Rotten (57) | DVD (6)
The latest child's-eye adventure from Robert Rodriguez, Shorts doesn't hit the heights of his Spy Kids series. But it provides just enough smart, silly fun for families desperately seeking an easy escape from hazy August humidity.
Top CriticThe movie is as lumpy and misshapen as a giant booger.
Shorts may not be destined for long-term greatness -- it feels cheerfully disposable in every way -- but the film is also fast and funny, and grown-ups will not suffer sitting through it.
Yes, I realize this is a kids' movie, but that's no excuse for short-circuiting creativity.
My fourth-grader giggled maniacally. The 9-year-old in me did, too.
Be careful what you wish for, Shorts reminds us; you just might get it. Especially if that wishing was along the lines of a smart and funny kids' flick.
Robert Rodriguez makes two kinds of movies - gritty action movies for adults and goofy CGI adventures for kids. Shorts falls in the latter category, capturing the story-telling feel of a young child.
It is a wildly self-indulgent fantasy adventure that should have gone straight to Youtube, where all 'Dad-thinks-he's-cool-with-a-camera' home videos belong.
Chaotic, messy, and horribly mind-numbing...
the extras themselves are, for all their brevity, as fun, beguiling and strange as the main feature
Yes, it's definitely made for the much younger set, but it also has quite a few zany little off guard touches, resulting in genuine laughs for anyone who can appreciate the humor.
...what poignancy is served injecting heavy messages about parenting... into a movie which glorifies the suburban existence, makes light of bullying, and gratuitously employs property destruction for comic effect?
...it seems like the kind of movie Rodriguez made up as he went along. (Blu-ray Edition)
...a mishmash of slapstick fights, tiny green men, galumphing alligators, nose picking, giant booger monsters, and endless silliness.
Shorts is constantly pinballing back and forth, from one thing to the next, in such a hyperactive fashion that one wishes it would just slow down a bit.
A fun trifle -- essentially, a homemade 'Little Rascals' update in which youngsters with a 'wishing rock' wreak accidental havoc (and create upright crocodiles, a giant dung beetle, a 'big bad booger' monster and an intellectual telepathic baby).
All of these adventures call on Rodriguez's fascination with visual effects, which could be tough on his human cast, but he has the wit to keep them in focus. All up, it's good fun.
A kid-friendly caper that's drunk a bit too much CGI-spiked red cordial.
Exactly the sort of kid-in-a-candy-store experience you'd expect.
Good clean fun is what Robert Rodriguez delivers in this energetic and inventive film about wishes and being connected.
Boy, is this dumb. I mean in the way that something can be so silly and disgusting it's dumb.
Audience Reviews for Shorts: The Adventures of the Wishing Rock
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Foreign Titles
- Das Geheimnis des Regenbogensteins (DE)
- Shorts (UK)
