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From the fertile, digitally enhanced imagination of Robert Rodriguez (Spy Kids) comes this loopy family action flick, in which a 10-year-old loner and his two imaginary superhero friends — Shark Boy and Lava Girl — must save a dream world from destruction. With its exuberant, fantastic sets and its child protagonist battling crazed adult authority figures reconfigured from life into a dreamland, the film recalls The Wizard of Oz and 1953’s The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. Wearing the cardboard glasses for the 3-D effects is awkward, but the kids (and parents) in the audience loved the goofiness hurtling off the screen, and 3-D is a good technique for depicting a child’s dream world, particularly in two great set pieces: a battle with electrical plugs and a brain war. Adults may find the kiddie superheroes too Hollywood (Shark Boy is particularly obnoxious), but the film moves at a good clip, with lots of eye candy and fun turn by George Lopez as a malevolent bit of electricity. (AH) 
This article appears in Jun 16-22, 2005.
