Bad film makes good

Apr 17th 2006 at 1:58 AM

I'd been a huge fan of Robert Rodriguez ever since Desperado. (El Mariachi didn't have Salma Hayek, but I digress.) He's earned my respect for releasing feature films on tight budgets and short schedules. He gets props for composing music good enough not to detract from his movies, too.

So when my 3-year old and 5-year old wanted to rent Sharkboy and Lavagirl, how could I say no? We all watched it together.

Few adults could tolerate, much less enjoy the film, but it was the perfect film for us. (Mostso for the 5-year old.) I was inspired by Robert's collaboration with Racer, his son. And after watching the movie, the three of us sat around discussing the film and imagining other scenarios for the characters, and making up new stories.

I really don't think Rodriguez had any higher expectations of his audience. It was a family project, and it was intended for specific families. We hit that narrow sweet spot for this film.

Tags: movies

Comments

halophoenix on Apr 17th 2006 at 8:56 AM

Wow-that actually sounds incredible. In a time when you hear about movies and television being nothing more than eye candy for kids these days, and movie producers having to make their content a little edgy to keep the adults interested while the kids are watching, you have no idea how refreshing it is to hear about a family watching a movie, then actually talking about it afterwards and letting their own imaginations take flight. Man, that's like a breath of fresh air. :) I remember when my family used to do that with me, and here I was afraid the notion was lost from the collective conciousness altogether.

dblume on Apr 17th 2006 at 9:40 AM

Yeah, that's why I mentioned Sharkboy and Lavagirl. Since it came from the mind of a six-year-old, it had ideas that my kids could more easily appreciate on a creative level. We all also saw Ice Age 2. And it was good and we loved it. But when we talked about it afterwards, it was more like, "Wasn't it cool when..." "I liked it what..." Sharkboy and Lavagirl got the kids involved and more creative. Sharkboy and Lavagirl has more blank canvas left in it than most other highly polished and produced features for kids, I guess.

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