Oliver Thatcher Watson
This film is okay. Not that good but not that bad. The story is pretty great and the premise is good, but the acting is so-so and the CGI is pretty horrible. So you win some and you lose some in this film. The story is surprisingly inventive and kind of enjoyable. It also went on a pretty good flow. The premise of this film is good too. The actors did alright. They didn't exactly grab me that much in their performances, but they did good enough for them to be somewhat believable. Kids may believe it more than me. The CGI is the biggest issue, however. The CGI in this film is extremely undetailed and looks completely fake and digital. It looked like something straight out of a 90s video game. Which, don't get me wrong, was impressive for the time being. But in a full feature film that was made 10 years after the 90s such as this one, it looks very lazily done and outdated. I recommend this film to kids who want to see a fun and adventurous film, as the inventive story and passable performances will most likely impress many children. I was impressed by how creative the story was in this film and I think it's great for kids. However, it is recommended to those over the age of 12 to just skip this film, as there are much better films than this.
stormhawk2018
In 2005, Robert Rodriguez' after directing the fantastic "Sin City" along Quentin Tarantino and Frank Miller, he steps down with "The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl". I know exactly where to begin on how terribly done this film is: Dialogue: I have never seen a movie where the dialogue was this bad. I mean, this movie makes the dialogue from "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" sound great! I cannot tell you how bad the words that come out of the characters' mouths were. Mr. Electricidad - "I'm the teacher and you know nothing..." OK, so what does that have to do with the small fight that happened between Max and Linus? I swear it's like George Lopez (and pretty much the rest of the actors) had no idea what they was talking about. In fact, his character, including his villain one, had some of the worst puns in the film. How bad, you might ask? Listening to the puns from "Batman and Robin" are more bearable to listen to than this. I kid you not. Max's Dad to Max's Mom - "I don't want you to go, you're my best friend..." he says that extremely laughable phrase in a monotone voice to his 'wife'. After he lets her go into the tornado, she gives out the fakest scream ever and Dad gets this "regretful" face and says "No! No, come back, please..." Yeah, really. Max's Mom to Max's Dad and then viceversa - *She comes out from the tornado with Lavagirl somehow: "I'm not going anywhere..." Despite the fact that you just said that to Dad to take care of you 'son'. Dad then says "Neither am I," to her like he was in any trouble. Like anyone said or implied he was. I don't even wanna begin to write down Cayden Boyd's dialogue because I swear if I did I'd write down about 10 paragraphs. So to sum this down, the dialogue is the worst thing this film has to offer. You're better off listening to the dialogue from "TSNM", "Ghost Rider" and "Crossroads". Cast and Acting: Taylor Lautner played his character throughout the whole movie like he had been stressed out and had a bad day. Taylor Dooley played Lavagirl so wooden that you're wondering how she didn't set herself on fire. Cayden Boyd can't act for nothing and that's a compliment. He looked and sounded like he was going to cry in the entire film. I'm not even going to begin talking on how bad of actors David Arquette, Kristin Davis and George Lopez were in this movie. Sasha Pieterse was pretty much telling us she wanted to be saved from this film, throughout the whole movie she looked forced to act. Characters: The hero of the film, Max, was useless and weak; he should have just jumped into the lava pit with Lavagirl and died. Lavagirl was some weak, pathetic excuse for a heroin who is nothing but a distraction, and the same could be said for Sharkboy. Both of them should have died. Lavagirl is an idiot who thinks has no rational thinking in her head. Really, when Max said they had to go find the ice princess, she says "She is ice and I'm fire, we MUST be enemies". Really logical thinking, right? All that Sharkboy does is be a bully to his own creator, and then insults and whine about how he doesn't have his strength because Max didn't make him the king of the ocean. The two villains were so bad that they should have married each other. They make Gargamel (Smurfs) and Prince John from "Robin Hood" (1973) look like Shan-Yu (Mulan) and Cruella de Vil (101 Dalmatians). Plot/Story: Apparently the whole point of the film is for Max to find his true purpose in the world of dreams and defeat the villains who are making the whole place a nightmare world. Like we haven't heard that formula before. You have one plot point in the film, another story element added there and then one arc added somewhere else. It's a cluster of inconsistent and incoherent plot points and stories that frankly you're wondering what the real point of the movie is. The we have how the characters travel from one point to another for certain things that later have very little to no use. I still don't even know why Taylor Lautner had to sing in the film. I'm not saying he sang badly (he was surprisingly good at it), but the way they executed the singing here was like the film was going to have some more musical numbers into it. Effects: Even back then when I first saw this film I was able to tell how bad they looked. I wouldn't be surprised if the effects in the movie were the only thing they bothered to pay attention to make right. I can compare the special effects to "Son of the Mask" and that movie had some effects itself. I didn't watch it in 3D so, I wouldn't know how bad the 3D was. Final summation, this film is so bad, it's just bad. It a mishmash between "Spy Kids", "The Wizard of Oz", "Never Ending Story" and some elements of Japanese anime (male primary teacher on charge, Sharkboy's karate techniques and a mention to sushi, the only missing thing was a gym class scene, where the P.E. teacher were female, like in Japan); in a very cheesy and laughable way. Go watch some other laughable movie that's actually bad enough to be good. Even Barney and the Teletubbies together is better than this garbage.How this movie scored over a 4% is beyond me.
stentygee123
While in today's time, this film is outdated and could have had way better graphics and quality, The Adventures Of Sharkboy And Lavagirl opened up viewers minds to a whole host of different opportunities for superhero movies- whether thats the traditional superhero movie with superheroes that save the world or a whole country and do all that whilst falling madly in love with someone and not being able to give them your true identity. Or whether it is simply a made up superhero world dreamt by a young boy. This film enlightens the younger generation to widen their imaginations and create TV's next superheroes. While the film itself is inspirational to the younger generation and where their mind will take them, the graphics and quality of the film are low, even for 2005's standards. However, overall I would give the film a 7/10 for a young child's imagination brought to life, along with the astonishing performances from both actors that made the emotional response from the audience possible.
