“Shorts” – a not-so-tall tale
From the director of “Spy Kids” comes the comedy adventure “Shorts,” a not-so-tall tale about a rock that falls from the sky that gets picked up by the boy who made a wish that changed a town forever.
Written and directed by Robert Rodriguez, “Shorts” stars Jon Cryer, William H. Macy, Leslie Mann, James Spader, Jimmy Bennett, Kat Dennings, Trevor Gagnon, Devon Gearhart, Leo Howard, Rebel Rodriguez, Jake Short and Jolie Vanier.
Welcome to Black Falls, where all the houses look the same and everyone works for Black Box Unlimited Worldwide Industries Incorporated, whose Mr. Black’s Black Box is the ultimate communication and do-it-all gadget that’s sweeping America.
Other than keeping his parents employed (Cryer, Mann), however, Mr. Black’s Black Box has done nothing for 11-year-old Toe Thompson (Bennett), who just wants to make a few friends…until a mysterious rainbow-colored rock falls from the sky, hits him in the head and changes everything. The Rainbow Rock does Mr. Black’s Black Box one better: it grants wishes to anyone who holds it.
The Rainbow Rock ricochets through the neighborhood, wreaking havoc in the lives of the other underage misfits in the town – including mischievous brothers Loogie (Gagnon), Lug (Rodriguez) and Laser (Howard); germophobic genius Nose Noseworthy (Short); and bullying siblings Helvetica (Vanier) and Cole (Gearhart) Black, who rule their school the way their father, Mr. Black (Spader), rules the town.
Before long, wishes-gone-wrong have left the neighborhood swarming with tiny spaceships, crocodile armies, giant boogers…and outrageous magical mayhem around every corner.
But it’s not until the grown-ups get their hands on the Rock that the trouble really starts. Now Toe and his newfound friends must join forces to save their town from itself, discovering along the way that what you wish for is not always what you want.
The film is produced by Elizabeth Avellán and Rodriguez, with Dan Lin, Hunt Lowry and Stacy Cohen serving as executive producers. As he often does, Rodriguez serves as his own director of photography, editor, visual effects supervisor and composer on the film.
Opening soon across the Philippines, “Shorts” is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.