The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl

Robert Rodriguez is one of Hollywood's most courageous directors, constantly inventing new ways of causing ripples in a calm, flat pond of generic staples. His most recent offering, Sin City, was a bravura take on film noir; here he takes characters invented by his then 7-year-old son, Racer Max, and puts them up on the big screen in 3-D. The story follows pubescent superheroes Shark Boy (Lautner) and Lava Girl (Dooley), cartoon-drawn inventions of schoolboy Max (Boyd), who come to earth from Planet Drool (!) and beg Max to return with them and help save their planet. Perhaps I'm simply 30 years too old to be excited by this kind of fare, but while Shark Boy. . . offers a strong message about the power of imagination, and how kids should be encouraged to use their brains, the story really shouldn't have made it all the way to a feature-length film. It's a mess from a technical point of view, and none of the characters - perversely enough - set the imagination on fire. Rodriguez, director of the mega-successful Spy Kids, obviously knows what works for a younger audience but this is a serious misstep by his standards; fatherly pride seems to have - understandably, perhaps - clouded his vision. One for superhero movie and Rodriguez completists only.