| The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Robert Rodriguez |
| Written by |
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| Story by | Racer Max Rodriguez[a] |
| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Robert Rodriguez |
| Edited by | Robert Rodriguez |
| Music by |
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Production companies | |
| Distributed by |
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Release dates |
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Running time | 93 minutes[3] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $50 million |
| Box office | $72 million[4] |
The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl (marketed asThe Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D) is a 2005 Americansuperheroadventure film, co-written and directed byRobert Rodriguez, and starringTaylor Lautner, Taylor Dooley,Cayden Boyd,David Arquette,Kristin Davis andGeorge Lopez. In the film, ten-year-old Max's dreamed-up superheroes Sharkboy and Lavagirl travel to his world and take him to Planet Drool, where they must stop Mr. Electric and Minus' plan to control the planet with the darkness and evil.
Many of the concepts and much of the story were conceived by Rodriguez's children, most notably Racer Max. The film usesanaglyph 3D technology, similar to that used in Rodriguez'sSpy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003).
Sharkboy and Lavagirl was released in the United States on June 10, 2005, byMiramax Films. It received generally negative reviews from critics and was a box office disappointment, grossing $72 million against a budget of $50 million. However, it has since garnered acult following.[5][6][7]
A sequel,We Can Be Heroes, was released in 2020.
Max, a lonely ten-year-old boy in suburbanAustin, dreams up an imaginative world called Planet Drool, recording what he dreams about in a journal. In this realm, his many dream-born creations come to life, among them two superheroes of Drool named Sharkboy and Lavagirl. Max faces challenges in the real world, including bullying from classmate Linus and his parents' troubled marriage.
After a fight where Linus stole and vandalized Max's dream journal, Sharkboy and Lavagirl appear in their real world classroom and invite Max to Planet Drool. Once there, they explain that Mr. Electric - the corrupt electrician of Drool based on Max's eccentric teacher Mr. Electricidad - is corrupting the dream world. Together, they embark on a journey to restore Planet Drool, facing obstacles and bonding along the way.
They confront Mr. Electric, but he traps them in the "Dream Graveyard", where forgotten dreams lie. Guided by Tobor, a robot toy Max abandoned, they plan to freeze time with the Crystal Heart, in the possession of Lavagirl's rival the Ice Princess, to freeze the contamination solid and thus repair the dream world. However, they are captured by "Minus", the mastermind commanding Mr. Electric. Minus is revealed to be Linus, who came to planet Drool using Max's dream journal, and has been causing the spread of darkness and evil with his own drawings and dreams. After escaping, the trio obtain the Crystal Heart from the Ice Princess, but Mr. Electric ambushes them again, leading to Lavagirl sacrificing herself to save Sharkboy.
Setting aside his selfish dreams, Max becomes the Daydreamer and gains reality-warping powers. After sending Sharkboy to revive Lavagirl, he defeats Linus and proposes to create a better dream world together. Linus agrees, but Mr. Electric rejects the offer, angered by Linus' redemption, and flees to Earth, intending to kill Max in his sleep. Encouraged by Sharkboy and Lavagirl to save the real world, Max and Linus return there and discover Mr. Electric simulating a tornado to attack the school. As Sharkboy and Lavagirl save Max's parents from the ensuing chaos, Max gives the Crystal Heart to his classmate Marissa, the basis for the Ice Princess, who freezes and destroys Mr. Electric.
As peace is restored, Sharkboy becomes King of the Ocean, searching for his father, and Lavagirl becomes Queen of Earth's Volcanoes. Max, reconciled with his parents and on friendly terms with Marissa and Linus, repairs Tobor and encourages everyone to "dream a better dream and work to make it real."
DirectorRobert Rodriguez has an uncredited role voicing a shark, and his children, Rebel and Racer, portray Sharkboy at age five and age seven respectively. Rico Torres portrays Sharkboy's father. Marc Musso and Shane Graham play children at Max's school.
Parts of the film were shot on location in Texas from September to December 2004, where Max resides and goes to school in the film. Much of the film was shot in a studio against a green screen. Most of the ships, landscapes and other effects including some creatures and characters, were accomplished digitally. According to Taylor Lautner and Taylor Dooley, when filming the scene with the dream train, the front part of the train was an actual physical set piece. "The whole inside was there and when they have all the gadgets you can pull on, that was all there but everything else was a green screen," said Dooley.[14]Eleven visual effects companies (Hybride Technologies,Cafe FX,The Orphanage, Post Logic,Hy*drau*lx,Industrial Light & Magic, R!ot Pictures,Tippett Studio, Amalgamated Pixels andIntelligent Creatures and Rodriguez's Texas-based Troublemaker Digital) worked on the film in order to accomplish over 1,000 visual effect shots.[15]
Robert Rodriguez appears in the credits fourteen times, most notably as a director, a producer, a screenwriter (along with Marcel Rodriguez), a visual effects supervisor, a director of photography, an editor, a camera operator, and a composer and performer. The story is credited to Racer Max Rodriguez, with additional story elements by Rebecca Rodriguez, who also wrote the lyrics for the main song, "Sharkboy and Lavagirl". Other members of the Rodriguez family can be seen in the film or were involved in the production.[citation needed]
Miley Cyrus had auditioned for the film with Lautner, and said it came down to her and another girl who was also auditioning; however, Cyrus then began production onHannah Montana, and thus the other girl, presumably Dooley, got the role.[16]
The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3D was a co-production ofDimension Films,Columbia Pictures, andTroublemaker Studios, and was distributed in the United States byMiramax Films and Dimension Films.[17][4]
| Original Motion Picture Soundtrack: The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by various artists | ||||
| Released | June 10, 2005 | |||
| Genre | Rock, pop | |||
| Length | 43:26 | |||
| Label | Varèse Sarabande | |||
| Robert Rodriguez film soundtrack chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Filmtracks |   [18] |
| Music from the Movies | [19] |
| SoundtrackNet | [20] |
Robert Rodriguez composed parts of the score himself, with contributions by composersJohn Debney andGraeme Revell.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Performer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The Shark Boy" | Robert Rodriguez,John Debney | 3:47 | |
| 2. | "The Lava Girl" | Rodriguez | 1:28 | |
| 3. | "Max's Dream" | Rodriguez | 1:37 | |
| 4. | "Sharkboy and Lavagirl Return" | Rodriguez | 1:44 | |
| 5. | "Planet Drool" | Rodriguez | 2:12 | |
| 6. | "Mount Never Rest" | Graeme Revell | 2:35 | |
| 7. | "Passage of Time" | Rodriguez, Carl Thiel | 1:30 | |
| 8. | "Mr. Electric" | Revell | 1:09 | |
| 9. | "Train of Thought" | Debney | 2:01 | |
| 10. | "Dream Dream Dream Dream (Dream Dream)" | Rodriguez | Shark Boy and the Lava Girls | 1:54 |
| 11. | "Stream of Consciousness" | Debney | 1:33 | |
| 12. | "Sea of Confusion" | Debney | 3:04 | |
| 13. | "The LaLa's" | Nicole Weinstein | 1:09 | |
| 14. | "The Ice Princess" | Rodriguez, Debney | 2:51 | |
| 15. | "Sharkboy vs. Mr. Electric" | Revell | 0:55 | |
| 16. | "Lavagirl's Sacrifice" | Rodriguez | 2:10 | |
| 17. | "The Light" | Rodriguez | 2:21 | |
| 18. | "Battle of the Dreamers" | Rodriguez | 1:21 | |
| 19. | "Mr. Electric on Earth" | Revell | 1:15 | |
| 20. | "Unplugged" | Rodriguez, Debney | 1:12 | |
| 21. | "The Day Dreamer" | Rodriguez, Debney | 1:29 | |
| 22. | "Sharkboy and Lavagirl" | Rodriguez, Rebecca Rodriguez | Ariel Abshire & The Lava Girls | 4:09 |
| Total length: | 43:26 | |||
The teaser trailer forThe Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl premiered in February 2005, during theatrical screenings ofPooh's Heffalump Movie. The teaser was later attached to theatrical screenings ofThe Longest Yard, andMadagascar.[citation needed]
After a Hollywood red carpet premiere on June 4, 2005, in Los Angeles, the film was released theatrically on June 10, 2005. The movie was on screens for 23 weeks.[citation needed]
The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl was originally released on September 20, 2005, on DVD, VHS, and UMD byBuena Vista Home Entertainment (under the Dimension Home Video banner). A specialanaglyph 3D DVD was released, which included 4 pairs of themed 3D glasses.[21]
Around the time of the film's debut Rodriguez co-wrote a series of children's novels entitledSharkboy and Lavagirl Adventures with acclaimed science fiction writerChris Roberson. They include Book 1,The Day Dreamer, and Book 2,Return to Planet Drool, which announces that it will be continued in a third volume,Deep Sleep, which was never released. There was also a release of "Max's Journal" which shows more of the character's dream journal from the movie, as well as "The Illustrated Screenplay", which shows the script with concept designs, preproduction art, character sketches, and behind-the-scenes photos. They are illustrated throughout by Alex Toader, who designed characters and environments for the film and the previousSpy Kids franchise.[22]
Jeff Jensen ofEntertainment Weekly praised another book appearing around the time of the film,The Adventures of SharkBoy and LavaGirl: The Movie Storybook (by Racer Max Rodriguez and Robert Rodriguez), as a far cry from the usual movie storybook tie-in, and also praised Alex Toader's "cartoony yet detailed" illustrations.[23]
For its opening weekend,The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D earned $12.6 million in 2,655 theaters. It was placed at number 5 at the box office, being overshadowed byMr. & Mrs. Smith,Madagascar,Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, andThe Longest Yard.[24] Grossing $39.2 million in the United States and $32.8 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $72 million,[4] since the film's total marketing budget is unknown, it is not certain if the film was a box office flop or not.
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 19% of 124 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.4/10. The website's consensus reads: "The decision to turn this kiddie fantasy into a 3-D film was a miscalculation."[25] OnMetacritic, it has a weighted average score of 38 out of 100 based on reviews from 31 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[26] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film a grade "B+" on scale of A to F.[27]
Roger Ebert gave the film two out of four stars and agreed with the other criticisms in which the 3-D process used was distracting and muted the colors, thus, he believes, "spoiling" much of the film and that the film would look more visually appealing when released in the home media market.[28]
TheTotal Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA)professional wrestlerDean Roll, whotrademarked the name "Shark Boy" in 1999, suedMiramax Films on June 8, 2005, claiming that his trademark had been infringed and demanding "[any] money, profits and advantages wrongfully gained". In April 2007, the suit was settled for an undisclosed amount.[29]
In an interview during the 2020Comic-Con@Home event, Rodriguez confirmed that a character in his then-upcoming filmWe Can Be Heroes was the youngest daughter of Sharkboy and Lavagirl who has shark powers. Taylor Dooley was confirmed to reprise her role in the film as Lavagirl, although Lautner did not reprise his role.[30]We Can Be Heroes was released throughNetflix in December 2020. In January 2021, a sequel was announced.[31]
"The movie is bad. Like, 19 percent onRotten Tomatoes bad. Still, it's a cult classic for aughts kids, featuring some campyCGI and George Lopez's floating head as the villain Mr. Electric".
