| The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D | |
| Director: | Robert Rodriguez |
| Story: | Racer Max Rodriguez |
| Cinematography: | Robert Rodriguez |
| Editing: | Robert Rodriguez |
| Music: |
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| Distributor: |
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| Runtime: | 93 minutes[2] |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Budget: | $50 million |
| Gross: | $72 million |
The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D (also known as The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl, or simply Sharkboy and Lavagirl) is a 2005 American 3D superhero adventure film co-written and directed by Robert Rodriguez and originally released in the United States on June 10, 2005, by Miramax Films and Dimension Films. The production companies were Dimension Films, Columbia Pictures, and Troublemaker Studios. The film uses the anaglyph 3D technology, similar to the one used in Rodriguez's (2003). The film stars Taylor Lautner, Taylor Dooley, Cayden Boyd, David Arquette, Kristin Davis and George Lopez. Many of the concepts and much of the story were conceived by Rodriguez's children, most notably Racer Max.
Sharkboy and Lavagirl received mostly negative reviews from critics, with much of the criticism directed at the film's poor 3-D, while the visual aspects and performances received some praise. The film also underperformed at the box office earning just $39.2 million in the United States and $32.8 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $72 million on a $50 million budget. It has since garnered a cult following and is often regarded as a cult classic.[3] [4] [5]
A standalone/legacy sequel titled We Can Be Heroes was released on Netflix on December 25, 2020, with Dooley reprising her role.
Max, a lonely ten-year-old boy in suburban Austin, creates an imaginative world called Planet Drool. In this dream realm, his creations Sharkboy and Lavagirl come to life. Max faces challenges in the real world, including bullying from Linus and his parents' troubled marriage. Sharkboy and Lavagirl appear in the real world and invite Max to Planet Drool, where they discover Mr. Electric 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. Guided by Tobor, a robot toy Max abandoned, they plan to freeze time with the Crystal Heart to repair the dream world. However, they are captured by Minus, who is revealed to be Linus, the mastermind behind the corruption. After escaping, they obtain the Crystal Heart but face challenges, leading to Lavagirl sacrificing herself to save Sharkboy.
Realizing his selfishness, Max becomes the Daydreamer and gains reality-warping powers. After reviving Lavagirl, he defeats Minus and proposes to create a better dream world together. Mr. Electric rejects the offer, targeting Max on Earth. Max awakens in the real world during a tornado, and Sharkboy and Lavagirl save his parents. Max gives the Crystal Heart to his classmate Marissa, who freezes and destroys Mr. Electric.
In the end, 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, repairs Tobor and encourages everyone to "dream a better dream and work to make it real."
Director Robert 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.[12] 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 and Intelligent Creatures and Rodriguez's Texas-based Troublemaker Digital) worked on the film in order to accomplish over 1,000 visual effect shots.[13]
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.
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 on Hannah Montana, and thus the other girl, presumably Dooley, got the role.[14]
The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3D was a co-production of Dimension Films, Columbia Pictures, and Troublemaker Studios, and was distributed in the United States by Miramax Films and Dimension Films.[15]
| Original Motion Picture Soundtrack: The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D | |
| Type: | Soundtrack |
| Artist: | various artists |
| Caption: | Back cover |
| Released: | June 10, 2005 |
| Genre: | Rock, pop |
| Length: | 43:26 |
| Label: | Varèse Sarabande |
| Chronology: | Robert Rodriguez film soundtrack |
| Prev Title: | Sin City |
| Prev Year: | 2005 |
| Next Title: | Planet Terror |
| Next Year: | 2007 |
Robert Rodriguez composed parts of the score himself, with contributions by composers John Debney and Graeme Revell.
The teaser trailer for The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl premiered in February 2005, during theatrical screenings of Pooh's Heffalump Movie. The teaser was later attached to theatrical screenings of The Longest Yard, and Madagascar.
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.
The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl was originally released on September 20, 2005, on DVD, VHS, and UMD by Buena Vista Home Entertainment (under the Dimension Home Video banner). A special Anaglyph 3D DVD was released, which included 4 pairs of themed 3D glasses.[16]
Around the time of the film's debut Rodriguez co-wrote a series of children's novels entitled Sharkboy and Lavagirl Adventures with acclaimed science fiction writer Chris 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 previous Spy kids franchise.[17]
Jeff Jensen of Entertainment 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.[18]
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 by Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Madagascar, , and The Longest Yard.[19] Grossing $39.2 million in the United States and $32.8 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $72 million,[20] since the film's total marketing budget is unknown, it is not certain if the film was a box office flop or not.
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a rating of 20% based on 123 reviews, with an average rating of . The critical consensus reads, "The decision to turn this kiddie fantasy into a 3-D film was a miscalculation."[21] On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 38 out of 100 based on reviews from 31 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[22] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "B+" on scale of A to F.[23]
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.[24]
The Total Nonstop Action professional wrestler Dean Roll, who trademarked the name "Shark Boy" in 1999, sued Miramax 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.[25]
In an interview during the 2020 Comic-Con@Home event, Rodriguez confirmed that a character in his then-upcoming film We 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.[26] We Can Be Heroes was released through Netflix in December 2020. In January 2021, a sequel was announced.[27]