The Movie
Who else besides multi-hyphenate filmmaker Robert Rodriguez writes and directs both hard-R orgies of sex and violence for the grownups (Sin City, Planet Terror), and inspired kiddie fare like the Spy Kids Trilogy? Shorts clearly falls in to this second category, a flashy PG treat for young boys and girls that tickles the funnybone with its digitally enhanced images of cartoonish bad guys wreaking mayhem. The eight-foot blob of green snot that wants to eat you pretty much sums it up.
The title refers mostly to the movie's structure, breaking down the story of a magic wishing rock and its tumultuous effects on a corporate town into a series of out-of-sequence chapters, or "shorts." In the extras we learn that all of the young main characters who possess the rock at various points are short themselves, and they tend to wear shorts. Props to Rodriguez for weaving in a few bits of subtle, genuine humor for the parents/caregivers in the audience, while the movie around them is blatantly silly but never quite "dumb." That's about all we can ask for in a live-action family film these days.
Also check out Chris Boylan's review of Shorts.
The Picture
Shorts was shot on high-definition video and is presented on Blu-ray at a TV-friendly 1.78:1/16:9. The image is rock-solid for the most part, a clean composite of real and digital imagery. A handful of out-of-focus backgrounds can take on that artificial, compressed look, and darker area of the frame can exhibit noise, but in general this is a well-mastered movie. The rainbow rock in particular, used in some artful ways, yields exquisite colors in certain scenes.
The Sound
The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack is a fine match for the strong visuals, with a punchy quality to the many sound effects, both naturalistic and fantastic. The discrete surrounds not only increase the impact of the wilder action scenes, but also add nice touches like a leaky faucet in one parent's home laboratory. There's running and rocket-bike-riding and cars coming and going, and the subsequent side-to-side directionality is spot-on, too.
The Extras
Appropriately, the movie is accompanied by four short featurettes, all in HD. "The Magic of Shorts" (nine minutes) breaks down the extensive use of special effects, while "Shorts: Show & Tell" (five minutes) shows all the fun that the young stars had during the production. Now a Rodriguez trademark, the disc also includes "Ten Minute Cooking School: Chocolate Chip Volcano Cookies" (ten minutes), wherein the director and his daughter make some amazing-looking treats, and "Ten Minute Film School: Short Shorts" (actually nine minutes) about how he has livened up his personal home movies with clever tricks, and we can too, plus glimpses of the homemade preview version of Shorts used to sell the concept. This disc is also BD-Live enabled.
Disc Two is a standard DVD of the movie which also carries a Digital Copy for iTunes and Windows Media.
Final Thoughts
While not exactly an hour-and-a-half of non-stop fun for the entire family, Shorts was more enjoyable than this grown-up was expecting, fast-paced and lighthearted. And filmmaker Robert Rodriguez's work once again makes the trip to high-def in grand style.
Product Details
- Actors: Jimmy Bennett, Jake Short, Kat Dennings, Trevor Gagnon, Devon Gearhart, Jolie Vanier, Rebel Rodriguez, Leo Howard, Leslie Mann, Jon Cryer, William H. Macy, James Spader
- Director: Robert Rodriguez
- Audio Format/Languages: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (English), Dolby Digital 5.1 (French, Spanish, Portuguese)
- Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese
- Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
- Number of discs: 2
- Rating: PG
- Studio: Warner
- Release Date: November 24, 2009
- Run Time: 89 minutes
- List Price: $35.99
- Extras:
- " The Magic of Shorts"
- "Shorts: Show & Tell"
- "Ten-Minute Cooking School: Chocolate Chip Volcano Cookies"
- "Ten-Minute Film School: Short Shorts"
- BD-Live
- DVD of the movie
- Digital Copy
