You know how there are some movies that you just loved as a kid, and then you rewatch them and wonder what you were thinking as a child? Yeah, that’s me right now.
I’m not always like that. I was the queen of loving things when I was a child, rewatching them and finding a new appreciation for them. I fell even deeper in love with Avatar: The Last Airbender when I rewatched it. I found a deeper appreciation for Nani upon rewatching Lilo & Stitch. Heck, even rewatching all the Scooby Doo movies from when I was a child made me smile from ear to ear.
But I decided to extend that to The Adventures of Sharkboy & Lavagirl this past weekend – or rather, what most call it, Sharkboy & Lavagirl. And I have to admit…it is not what I remembered at all as a kid.
Harry Potter films, The Lord of the Rings movies, and numerous other great picks. We also had plenty of great sci-fi films, ones that really redefined the genre.
The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl was a hybrid of sorts, combining the fantasy aspects of things taking place within dreams and the strange magic that came with it, while also incorporating a more sci-fi-like setting for many of the scenes, along with some elements of elemental fantasy. And yeah, as a kid, I ate that up. I ate it up time and time again.
I used to think the world looked so cool. Perhaps it was just that I wasn’t exposed to that much, or maybe I loved the idea of escaping the everyday world and entering this dreamlike realm where I was essentially in charge of everything. But I was fascinated by it.
However, I decided to rewatch it as an adult, and… yeah. This movie is not it.
Robert Rodriguez wanted to capitalize on it, but it just did not work well with this film.
The CGI was poorly done in many different aspects. I mean, the face on Mr. Electric barely looks like it’s supposed to be there. Maybe that’s the point – that he’s supposed to look so haunting you can’t forget him due to the fact that he’s the villain. But good lord, we couldn’t try a little harder?
Taylor Lautner and his huge role in the Twilight films. But every actor starts somewhere and the performances in this movie just weren’t that great this time around.
Granted, this is a kid’s movie, so I’m not expecting there to be some Academy Award-winning performance. But there were moments where the story was kind of crazy and the acting just didn’t feel super believable. It was hard to watch as an adult. I guess as a kid I was just caught up in all the cool aspects of the movie I didn’t even care about the acting that much.
Spy Kids movies.
But Sharkboy and Lavagirl is riddled to the brim with plot holes.
For example, this is Max’s dreamworld – so how come he has no idea what the heck is going on for most of the film? Why can’t he figure it out or redo something? It doesn’t take that long to understand it. Also, how does Mr. Electric even show up in the real world and gain real-world power when this is just a dreamland? Certain things don’t make sense to me.
best streaming services to see what’s available—time for a movie marathon.