What’s it about
If you’ve watched Rodriguez’s earlier kiddie flicks (the three Spy Kids films) you’ll find a pattern: a number of pesky kids, a holy grail (in this case, a rainbow coloured wishing rock), lots of gadgets, misshapen monsters with a heart (in this case, the booger monster), parents taking a backseat and fantastical things going out of control before it gets normal in the end. And yeah, a moral.

That said, Shorts is several disjointed, non-linear short segments about Toe Thompson (Bennett) finding a rainbow rock that fulfils wishes any way it sees fit unless you’re specific.  A loner, he gets picked on by Helvetica Black (Vanier), the daughter of his parents’ boss Carbon Black (Spader, a regular on TV’s Boston Legal) practically everyday. In the spans of a few days, he makes friends with the Shorts, gets his germ-phobic buddy Nose Noseworthy (Jake Short) and his dad (William H Macy) to come out from their germ-free zone and finds his parents (Leslie Mann and John Cryer; 17 Again and Two And A Half Men respectively) get close – too close for comfort, in fact.

What’s hot
If there’s anything called kiddie chemistry, Bennett and Vanier have it. Both are sharp on cue. The kids playing the Shorts may be a bit of-kilter, but they turn out to be the sanest of the lot while everyone is running around losing their heads. The kids here do get to say the darndest things… and that my friends, is such a relief. Having the story told episodically was a nice touch, though not altogether necessary.

What’s not
What was the point of having the Blinkers around? Other than add yet another distraction to an already overflowing melting pot of absolute wackiness, they do nothing for the story.  Rodriguez goes a bit overboard in some places and restrains himself in others; the unevenness shows.

What to do
It’s reasonably short, it’s also short on special effects (have always wondered, was it a deliberate thing with RR?) but is big on heart and imagination. Do avoid the sermon at the end, though.