Shorts Movie Review: Sneak Peek

Every time the Shorts movie commercial came on TV my kids would kindly remind me that they wanted to go and see this movie. While watching movie previews at a drive in movie theater we saw the trailer for the Shorts movie and they again expressed their interest in seeing this movie.

I was not exactly sold on the idea of going to see the Shorts movie in the theaters. To me the Shorts movie looked like a nice little movie to watch after it was released on DVD. But, somehow I was able to get tickets for my family to a preview screening of the movie Shorts. I could not turn down this offer; we get into the movie for free, before the general public gets to watch, and this makes my kids extremely happy.

Here is a little background information on the Shorts movie: The total runtime of the movie is a mere 89 minutes, which is shorter than some animated cartoon movies. It has a PG rating because of mild action and some rude humor. The movie Shorts was directed by Robert Rodriguez who also directed the Spy Kids movies, which my children also like to watch.

Warning- Shorts Movie Spoiler: The plot of the Shorts movie is about a boy who finds a rock that can cause wishes. Everyone in the town of Black Falls wants to get their hands on this magical wish rock and chaos ensues. Wishes are made and go awry, children and adults make outrageous wishes with the rainbow colored rock. There is quite a lot of CGI (computer generated imagery) in this Shorts film. Finally, some of the children in the town have to take responsibility and try to save their town from the wishing rock the booger monster and all of the wishes gone bad.

There is typical bulling of the main character named Toe and his only friend Loogie. The kids don't have enough parental supervision because all the adults are worried about their jobs. Just about the whole town gets to make a wish with the rainbow wishing rock. The children seem to make better wishes than most of the adults. There is a moral or lesson that the characters learn towards the end of the movie. Parents learn to pay more attention to their kids and the kids learn that they should not wish for every little thing that pops into their heads.

There are several famous actors that you might recognize in the Shorts film. Many of the Shorts children actors are just getting their start but you might recognize a few of them. It also appears that the director Mr. Rodriguez has put several family members into bit acting parts on the movie. Some of the adult actors you might recognize in Shorts are: Jon Cryer, William H. Macy and James Spader.

My review of the movie Shorts: I thought that the director was able to capture his inner child and see things the way kids would. Even though the main character was supposed to be eleven years old I do not think children older than ten would really enjoy this movie. Shorts was strange, cut up into "short" stories and sections. Even with all of the bathroom humor and boogers it wasn't really a laugh out loud movie, well maybe for the kids. Basically I was right in judging that the Shorts movie would really only be a good movie to see on DVD. I guess I would rate this movie as average or 2.5 stars out of 5 stars. My kids would give it three or four stars, depending on their age.