Shorts (2009 film)

Shorts: The Adventures of the Wishing Rock
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Robert Rodriguez
Written by	Robert Rodriguez
Produced by	Robert Rodriguez Elizabeth Avellán
Starring	Jon Cryer William H. Macy Leslie Mann James Spader Jimmy Bennett Kat Dennings
Cinematography	Robert Rodriguez
Edited by	Ethan Maniquis Robert Rodriguez
Music by	George Oldziey Robert Rodriguez Carl Thiel
Production companies	Imagenation Abu Dhabi Troublemaker Studios Media Rights Capital
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release dates	August 15, 2009 (2009-08-15) (Grauman's Chinese Theatre) August 21, 2009 (2009-08-21) (wide release)
Running time	89 minutes
Countries	United States United Arab Emirates
Language	English
Budget	$20 million
Box office	$29 million

Shorts (also known as Shorts: The Adventures of the Wishing Rock and released internationally as The Wishing Rock) is a 2009 fantasy comedy film written and directed by Robert Rodriguez and starring Jon Cryer, William H. Macy, Leslie Mann, James Spader, Jimmy Bennett, Kat Dennings and introducing Jolie Vanier in her film debut with supporting roles done by Jake Short, Devon Gearhart, Leo Howard, Trevor Gagnon, and Rebel Rodriguez. It tells the story of a rainbow wishing rock that ends up in the possession of different people where the wishes have various results for those who make the wishes.

Shorts: The Adventures of the Wishing Rock made its world premiere screening on August 15, 2009, at the Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California. Shortly after that, the movie was theatrically released in the United States on August 21, 2009, by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film grossed $29 million on a $20 million budget.

It received mixed reviews from critics. It received a Young Artist Award nomination for Best Performance in a Feature Film. Shorts: The Adventures of the Wishing Rock was released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 24, 2009, by Warner Home Video.

Plot

The film is set in a bustling suburban company town in Austin, Texas called Black Falls Community where every adult always works and citizens and children use the company's famous manufactured product "Black Box" universal gadget invented by Carbon Black, CEO of Black Box Unlimited Worldwide Industries Incorporated (or Black Inc. for short), a technological device that can turn into almost any gadget imaginable. One day, a mysterious rainbow-colored rock that grants wishes appeared.

Some of the events will be considered "episodes" and will be randomized due to one of the film's protagonists, 11-year-old Toby "Toe" Thompson being unable to remember the order of events correctly.

Episode Two - Alien8ed

Toby Thompson lives with his parents Bill and Jane and his older sister Stacey. Helvetica Black and her brother Cole bully Toby on the way to school. Toby speculates that Helvetica has feelings for him, infuriating Helvetica, and he is dumped in a trash can. Later that day after school, Cole and his gang start throwing rocks at Toby. One of the rocks they throw is the wishing rock, which Toby uses to wish for friends who are interesting and unique as he is which come in the form of tiny aliens. Toby lets the aliens help him by cleaning up his room and removing his braces so he can clean his teeth perfectly. The next morning, Toby takes the aliens to school, but their presence causes chaos in the science lab and causing Toby and Helvetica have a fight and then to fall from the school's roof. This results in both Toby and Helvetica having casts put on both their arms. He then gets befriended by Loogie. The aliens leave, but Toby keeps the rock.

Episode One - The Wishing Rock

A rainbow-colored rock falls from the sky due to a massive thunderstorm and appears at the end of a rainbow where Loogie Short and his brothers, Laser and Lug find it. They wonder what it could be, Loogie soon realized it is a wishing rock and then they start using it to wish for various things, including a never-ending pocketful of chocolate bars, a fortress-like castle as well as a canyon full of crocodiles and snakes. Soon, they accidentally drop the rock into the canyon and go in there to find it. Somehow they do find the rock and grab it but they are soon cornered by the snakes and crocodiles where one of them used the rock to wish that they can stand on two legs. Loogie wishes for a pterodactyl to get them out of the canyon and they land in the fortress. but then they notice that the crocodiles can also climb walls like spiders. Loogie wishes for telekinesis to get the crocodiles off the fortress before wishing him and his brothers back home. Loogie then wishes for one of them to be super-smart. However, the power is given to their infant sister through psychic abilities. Now having the ability to speak telepathically, she convinces the boys to dispose of the rock which they do by wishing for a giant catapult to throw the rock into the construction site where Cole finds it the next day to throw at Toby.

Episode Four - The Big Bad Booger

Stacey finds the wishing rock on the Noseworthy's house front yard upon arriving to tutor Toby's old germaphobic friend "Nose" Noseworthy. Nose picks his nose against the wishes of his father Dr. Noseworthy and accidentally flicks the booger into his father's radioactive work study. Toby and Loogie, now friends, arrive at Nose's house in time to see Nose's booger mutate into a giant monster who eats the rock after Nose made a wish that his father's inventions would work right. Toby eventually retrieves the rock with Nose's help. After helping Dr. Noseworthy capture the beast outside, Toby and Loogie take the rock and leave.

Episode Three - The Miscommunicators

Bill and Jane work for Black Inc. They are assigned by Carbon Black to compete to create a new marketing strategy. Mrs. Thompson finds the rock in Toby’s room and takes it. She and her husband go to a Black Box costume party. Since they were having trouble with their relationship, she wished they were closer. They merge into a two-headed person, but Mr. Black thinks they're wearing a costume.

Meanwhile, Toby realizes that his mom took the rock and rushes to the costume party, but runs into Helvetica and Cole who take the rock and dump him in the garbage. An infuriated Helvetica wishes that Cole would turn into a dung beetle and then loses the rock. Unaware of its power, Mr. Black finds the rock and accidentally wishes all the employees to go for each other's throats. Helvetica takes the rock, she then wishes for her father to listen to her for a change causing his ears to grow. Then she wishes off her casts and attempts to escape on a rocket-powered motorbike that she wished for, but hits a curb and loses the rock again. Toby retrieves the rock and wishes everyone back to normal. Helvetica attempts to get the rock back, but Toby throws it as far away as possible and lands at the Noseworthy's house.

Episode Five - Everyone in The End

As Toby and Loogie contemplate what to do with the rock, Toby wishes the casts on his arms were off. They are confronted by Helvetica and Cole who want the rock back and then joined by Nose, Laser and Lug. They then chase each other and fight over the rock by doing random wishes like Nose turning into a pigeon upon wishing he could fly away, Laser wishing to have really long arms, and Helvetica wishing to be invisible. The rock then winds up in the hands of Mr. Black who wishes that he was the most powerful thing in the world and turned into a giant Black Box robot. Helvetica uses the rock to turn into a giant wasp and Cole uses it to turn into a giant dung beetle in an attempt to stop their father, aided by Toby's aliens and Loogie's humanoid crocodiles. The Short brothers' infant sister appears, uses her powers to stop a crocodile from eating her, and tells them that the rock is starting to feel misused as shown by the fact that it is starting to undo all of their wishes. She also tells them the rock could destroy the Earth because of their petty wishes. With help from Dr. Noseworthy's germs, everyone removes the rock and all its effects are undone as it ends up at the end of another rainbow. Bill and Jane decide to work on the marketing plan together and Mr. Black agrees.

Finale

Toby narrates that Mr. Black changes the Black Box into the more environmentally friendly Green Box, the Noseworthys lose their germaphobia, he'll be part of the Black family in the future as Helvetica states that she didn't agree to that, and Bill and Jane finally become closer together. All the children became friends and wished that their story would become a Hollywood movie.

Cast

Kids

• Jimmy Bennett as Toby "Toe" Thompson, an 11-year-old boy who was the second to find the wishing rock. He serves as the narrator of the film.
• Jolie Vanier as Helvetica "Hel" Black, Mr. Black's daughter and a classmate of Toby's. She bullies Toby, though it is shown she secretly has a crush on him.
• Trevor Gagnon as Loogie Short, a boy who found the wishing rock. When he had the wishing rock he wished for unreasonable stuff. He flirted with Toby's older sister throughout the movie.
• Jake Short as "Nose" Noseworthy, a germophobe scientist like his father and Toby's old friend.
• Rebel Rodriguez as Lug Short, Loogie's second brother. He is the most video game obsessed and easily angered of the three Short brothers.
• Leo Howard as Laser Short, Loogie's 12-year-old older brother. He seems to be the smartest of the three Short brothers.
• Devon Gearhart as Colbert "Cole" Black, Carbon's 13-year-old son and captain of the football team. He's Hel's older brother who cares deeply for her and is the leader of his own gang which Hel sometimes leads.
• Racer Rodriguez as Bully #1, a football player who is a member of Cole's gang.
• Rocket Rodriguez as Bully #2, another football player who is a member of Cole's gang.
• Cambell Westmoreland as Blinker #1, a male kid who ends up in a staring contest.
• Zoe Webb as Blinker #2, a female kid who ends up in a staring contest with her sibling.
• Bianca Rodriguez as the Baby, the infant sibling of Loogie, Laser, and Lug who is made super-smart by the wish of Loogie.
  • Elizabeth Avellán as the voice of the Baby

Adults

• Jon Cryer as Bill Thompson, Toby's father and Jane's husband who works at Black Box Worldwind Unlimited Industries.
• Leslie Mann as. Jane Thompson, Toby's mother and Bill's wife who also works at Black Box Worldwide Unlimited Industries.
• James Spader as Carbon Black, Hel and Cole's father and the founder of Black Box Worldwide Unlimited Industries.
• William H. Macy as Dr. Noseworthy, a germophobe scientist who works for Black Box Worldwide Unlimited Industries and does not like contamination.
• Kat Dennings as Stacey Thompson, Toby's 23-year-old older sister.
• Angela Lanza as Toby's science teacher
• Alejandro Rose-Garcia as John, Stacey's ex-boyfriend who is accidentally wished to grow up by Stacey which causes him to become 50 ft. tall.
• Chris Orf as a goofy host
• Tina Rodriguez as a female employee of Black Box Unlimited Worldwide Industries that Black fired for questioning the toaster configuration for the Black Box.
• Jackson Hurst as a male employee of Black Box Unlimited Worldwide Industries that Black fired for questioning the toaster configuration for the Black Box.
• Jonathan Breck as a security guard of Black Box Unlimited Worldwide Industries, who is accidentally wished to become an Oscar Mayer wiener by Helvetica.
• Nick Cassavetes as Cole (deleted scenes)
• Heather Wahlquist as Therese (deleted scenes)

Production

Spy Kids creator Robert Rodriguez is the film's director, producer, writer, editor, cinematographer and music composer.

On January 11, 2008, it was announced that Robert Rodriguez would direct, produce and write a 2009 American and Emirati live action and animated family science fiction fantasy adventure comedy movie which features live action and CGI animation titled Shorts also known as Shorts: The Adventures of the Wishing Rock.

On July 16, 2008, it was announced that Jimmy Bennett would play the lead role in the film, while Jon Cryer, Leslie Mann and Kat Dennings were in early talks to join the cast. On July 17, 2008, William H. Macy, Jolie Vanier, Devon Gearhart, James Spader and Trevor Gagnon were also in final talks to join the film, Rebel Rodriguez, Leo Howard, Bianca Rodriguez, Elizabeth Avellan, Jake Short, Racer Rodriguez, Rocket Rodriguez, Alejandro Rose-Garcia, Cambell Westmoreland and Zoe Webb were added to the cast.

Shorts: The Adventures of the Wishing Rock was filmed in Austin, Texas. The special effects were done by KNB EFX Group, Troublemaker Digital Studios and Hybride Technologies for the animation.

George Oldziey, Robert Rodriguez and Carl Thiel scored the music for the film on its soundtrack and the film's soundtrack contains "Spy Ballet" performed by Robert Rodriguez and "Summer Never Ends" performed by Jimmy Bennett. Warner Bros. Pictures distributed the film.

Release

Shorts: The Adventures of the Wishing Rock was released in cinemas on August 21, 2009, in the US by Warner Bros. Pictures, and on DVD and Blu-ray on November 24, 2009, by Warner Home Video.

Reception

Critical response

Jimmy Bennett was praised by critics for his performance.

The film holds a 47% approval rating on critical response aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 103 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads, "Shorts has imagination and energy, but most viewers beyond elementary school will likely tire of the kiddie humor and sensory overload." On Metacritic, the film holds a score of 53 out of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average of "C+" on an A+ to F scale.

Sandie Angulo Chen of Common Sense Media gave the film four stars out of five, saying it was "funny, imaginative fantasy from Spy Kids director."

Box office

For its opening weekend, the film made $6.4 million, an average of $2,065 per each of 3,105 theaters. It opened at #6, being overshadowed by Inglourious Basterds, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, and Julie & Julia. Overall, the film grossed about $20.9 million in the United States and Canada, and about $29 million worldwide.

Awards

List of awards and nominations

Award	Category	Nominee	Result
Young Artist Awards 2010	Best Performance in a Feature Film - Young Ensemble Cast	Jimmy Bennett, Jake Short, Devon Gearhart, Leo Howard, Jolie Vanier, Trevor Gagnon	Won
	Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actress	Jolie Vanier	Nominated

Soundtrack

Shorts: The Adventures of the Wishing Rock
Soundtrack album / Film score by George Oldziey, Robert Rodriguez and Carl Thiel
Released	2009
Recorded	2006–2009
Genre	Movie Soundtrack, Film Score
Label	Warner Bros. Records
Producer	Robert Rodriguez
Singles from Shorts: The Adventures of the Wishing Rock: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
"Summer Never Ends" Released: 2009

George Oldziey, Robert Rodriguez and Carl Thiel scored the music for the film on its soundtrack and the film's soundtrack contains "Spy Ballet" performed by Robert Rodriguez and "Summer Never Ends" performed by Jimmy Bennett. The soundtrack was released in 2009 by Warner Bros. Records.

Songs and music

• Spy Ballet – Robert Rodriguez
• Summer Never Ends – Jimmy Bennett
• It’s Not Just Make Believe - Kari Kimmel
• I Predict a Riot - Kaiser Chiefs
• Never Alone - Barlowgirl
• All Music – Composed by George Oldziey, Robert Rodriguez and Carl Thiel

Cancelled video game adaption

A Wii and Nintendo DS video game of the same name was announced on June 23, 2009, with a prospective July release date in advance of the film's release, while the DS version was released, the Wii version was canceled.

External links

• Official Site
• Official Facebook
• Shorts at IMDb
• Shorts at Box Office Mojo
• Shorts at Rotten Tomatoes