Shorts (2009 film) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Shorts: The Adventures of the Wishing Rock |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Robert Rodriguez |
| Produced by |
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| Written by | Robert Rodriguez |
| Starring |
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| Music by |
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| Cinematography | Robert Rodriguez |
| Editing by |
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| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| Release date(s) | October 3, 2008 (European world premiere) August 21, 2009 (wide release) |
| Running time | 89 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $20 million |
| Money made | $29 million |
Shorts (also known as Shorts: The Adventures of the Wishing Rock and released internationally as The Wishing Rock) is a 2009 American comic fantasy family film written and directed by Robert Rodriguez. The film stars Jon Cryer, William H. Macy, Leslie Mann, James Spader, Jimmy Bennett and Kat Dennings.
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 24 November 2009 by Warner Home Video. An Wii and Nintendo DS video game of the same name was announced on 23 June 2009 with a prospective July release date in advance of the film's release, but was canceled.
Contents
Plot
The film starts with a very busy suburban town in Austin, Texas called Black Falls Community, where every adult always works and citizens and children use the companies famous product "The Black Box" a technological device that can turn into almost any gadget imaginable. (Some of the events will be considered as "episodes" and will be randomized due to the narrator being unable to correctly remember the order of events.)
Episode One A rainbow colored Wishing Rock appears at the home of Loogie (Trevor Gagnon), Laser (Leo Howard), and Lug (Rebel Rodriguez) Short, and they eventually wish that one of them was very smart. However, the power is given to their infant sister (portrayed by Bianca Rodriguez and voiced by Elizabeth Avellan). She convinces the boys to dispose of the rock, which Cole finds the next day to throw at Toby.
Episode Two Toby Thompson (Jimmy Bennett) is bullied by Helvetica Black (Jolie Vanier) and her brother Cole (Devon Gearhart) on the way to school. Toby speculates that Helvetica has feelings for him, infuriating Helvetica and leading Cole and his gang to start throwing rocks at Toby. One of the rocks they throw is the wishing rock, which Toby uses to wish for friends, which come in the form of small aliens. Toby takes the aliens to school, but their presence causes Toby and Helvetica to fall from the school's roof. This results in both Toby and Helvetica having casts put on both arms. The aliens leave, but Toby keeps the rock.
Episode Three Toby parents, Bill and Jane Thompson (Leslie Mann and Jon Cryer), like all adults in the town, work for Black Box Unlimited Worldwide Industries Incorporated, which manufactures the "Black Box" universal gadget. They are assigned by Mr. Carbon Black (James Spader), owner of Black Box, to compete to create a new marketing strategy. Jane finds the rock in Toby’s room and takes it. She and Mr. Thompson go to a Black Box costume party. Since they were having trouble with their relationship, she wishes that she and her husband were closer. They become merged into a two-headed person, but Carbon thinks that they're wearing a costume.
Meanwhile, Toby realizes that his mother 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. Hel wishes that Cole would turn into a dung beetle and then loses the rock. The rock is found by Carbon who, unaware of its power, accidentally wishes for all of the employees to go for each other's throats. In the chaos, Toby retrieves the rock and wishes everyone back to normal. Helvetica takes the rock, wishes off her casts, and escapes before Toby throws the rock as far as he can, where it lands at the Noseworthy's house.
Episode Four Toby’s older sister Stacey (Kat Dennings) arrives to tutor "Nose" Noseworthy (Jake Short), Toby’s old, germaphobic friend. Nose picks his nose against his father's wishes 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. After helping Nose's father (William H. Macy) capture the monster outside, Toby and Loogie take the rock and leave.
Episode Five As Toby and Loogie contemplate what to do with the rock,Toby wishes his casts on his arm are off. ambushed by the rest of the kids and fight until the rock winds up in the hands of Carbon. Carbon wishes that he was the most powerful thing in the world and turns into a giant Black Box robot. The infant tells them that the rock is starting to feel misused, as shown by the fact that the rock starts undoing all of their wishes. She also tells them the rock could destroy the Earth because of all of the petty wishes they make. Together they get rid of the rock and all of its effects are undone. Toby’s parents decide to work on the marketing plan together and Carbon agrees. Carbon changes the Black Box into the more environmentally friendly Green Box. The Noseworthys lose their germaphobia, Toby’s parents become closer, and it is suggested that Helvetica and Toby will marry in the future. All the children become friends and wished that their story would become a Hollywood movie, breaking the 4th wall.
Cast
Kids
- Jimmy Bennett as Toby Thompson, a boy who was the second to find the wishing rock.
- Jolie Vanier as Helvetica Black, Mr. Black's daughter and a classmate of Toby's. She picks on Toby, but 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 older brother. He is the most video game obsessed and easily angered of the three Short brothers.
- Leo Howard as Laser Short, Loogie's older brother. He seems to be the smartest of the three Short brothers.
- Bianca Rodriguez as the Short brothers' infant sister, simply referred to as "(the) Baby". She is voiced by Elizabeth Avellan.
- Devon Gearhart as Colbert "Cole" Black, Carbon's son and captain of the football team. He's Hel's 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, also a football player who is a member of Cole's gang.
- Cambell Westmoreland as Blinker #1
- Zoe Webb as Blinker #2
Adults
- Jon Cryer as Mr. Bill Thompson, Toby's father and Jane's husband who works at Black Box, Inc.
- Leslie Mann as Mrs. Jane Thompson, Toby's mother and Bill's wife who also works at Black Box, Inc.
- James Spader as Mr. Carbon Black, Hel and Cole's father and the founder of the Black Box Community.
- William H. Macy as Dr. Noseworthy, A germophobe scientist who doesn't like Contamination.
- Kat Dennings as Stacey Thompson, Toby's 23-year-old older sister.
- Alejandro Rose-Garcia as John, Stacey's boyfriend.
- Nick Cassavetes as Cole (deleted scenes)
- Heather Wahlquist as Therese (deleted scenes)
Soundtrack
| Shorts: The Adventures of the Wishing Rock | ||
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| Soundtrack album / Film score by
George Oldziey, Robert Rodriguez and Carl Thiel
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| Released | 2009 | |
| Recorded | 2006-2009 | |
| Genre | Movie Soundtrack, Film Score | |
| Label | Warner Bros. Records | |
| Producer | Robert Rodriguez | |
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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
Images for kids
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Spy Kids creator Robert Rodriguez is the film's director, producer, writer, editor, cinematographer and music composer.
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See also
In Spanish: Shorts (película de 2009) para niños
