The Greatest Kids Movie Ever Made: ‘The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl’

With a Rotten Tomatoes critic score of 20%, and an audience score of 31%, it seems pretty clear that ‘The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl’ isn’t a well-regarded movie.

But it should be.

The 2005 family flick was directed by Robert Rodriguez, and is based on the dreams of his son Racer Max (yes, he literally made his kid’s dreams come true). ‘The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl’ follows Max (Cayden Boyd), a ten-year-old boy bullied by his peers for having imaginary friends. Being outcast just makes Max spend more time among his dream world, Planet Drool, with his super-powered buddies Sharkboy (Taylor Lautner) and Lavagirl (Taylor Dooley). But he soon discovers that dreams have the power to become reality – and not all dreams are good.

The movie is chock full of wacky and colourful special effects, having been nearly entirely filmed on green screen, and shot in 3-D. It gives off a surreal, dream-like feel that only benefits the setting. The ‘real world’ set is drab and dull. But Planet Drool? It looks like someone ate a whole lot of sugary treats and then threw it back up. As Sharkboy says, “So cool, it makes you drool.”

The characters are the heart of this film, and they are all well-realized, on top of the fantastic costume design. Lavagirl is a hot-head with a loving heart. She struggles with her identity, wanting to believe that there is more to her than the power of destruction. Her character arc through the film is one of self-discovery, and serves up some beautiful dramatic moments. Plus, have you seen her hair!?

Max is an imaginative boy who has a similar journey with identity, but doesn’t focus so much on discovering who you are, but believing in who you are. He is the most powerful hero of them all, if only he would believe in himself. He deals with feeling out of place at school where he’s bullied, at home where his parents are always fighting, and now even in his dreams, where he doesn’t remember how to use his powers. His character grounds the film and is the glue that holds everything together.

Sharkboy is the original edgelord, with his spiky hair, aggressive nature, and tragic backstory. He has the lesser arc of the three main characters, with his motivations to save Planet Drool being simply to help his best friend, Lavagirl. He does have subplots of the search for his father, and longing to become king of the ocean. While these have the benefit of being super cool, they don’t add a lot to the overall story. They do accomplish, however, in fleshing out Sharkboy as a character and giving him an emotional weight beyond the bad boy persona.

The three heroes face off against some menacing villains who are bringing the darkness of nightmares and selfish dreams to Planet Drool. They provide a great source of conflict, action, and suspense.

‘The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl’ doesn’t just stop at being a fun adventure. It has great messages woven through, about working hard to make your dreams reality and believing in yourself. What do you do when your dream has been destroyed? Dream a better dream. An unselfish dream.

I was eight-years-old when I saw this movie in cinemas (twice!) and I can assure you that the ridiculous atmosphere appealed directly to my hyper-active brain. This is a movie dreamed up by a kid, and made FOR KIDS. I love that it knows its audience and doesn’t try to appeal to adults, doesn’t tone down any of the glorious weirdness that makes it unique. My final rating is a bag of sour gummy worms out of 10.

If you’re not convinced, you obviously haven’t heard this masterpiece. Please do yourself a favor and watch it. It will probably get stuck in your head.

#moviereview #theadventuresofsharkboyandlavagirl