Review of Shorts (2009) by Chads. — 22 Aug 2009

"Shorts" might be headache-inducing, but that's only if you're old enough to have seen "The Goonies"(the Richard Donner-directed film which had some film critics reaching for the Tylenol, or revolver) in its original theatrical run, because more likely than not, moppets and sprouts are going to love the Booger Monster like how the ogre-like creature from the 1985 Steven Spielberg-produced summer blockbuster kept the analog generation in thrall.

Presented as a series of linked stories, needless to say, "Shorts" has no aspirations to be literary(like Ernest Hemingway's short story collection, also linked, "In Our Time"), but that doesn't mean this CGI-laden film is completely devoid of sophistication.

In the prologue, a bully picks up a rainbow colored stone, then hurls it at Toe Thompson(Jimmy Bennett), who promptly falls from a tree. The multi-hued piece of mineral matter just happened to be lying there, without explanation.

Also in the prologue, Toe's friend Loogie(Trevor Gagnon) has a relentless supply of objects(which are identified as chocolate bars in another story) pouring out from both pockets; again, at that juncture, without any justifying cause.

By some fluke, the unofficial prologue of "Shorts" shares with Ernest Hemingway's first short story collection, a stylistic decision to present its narrative without exposition. Although not for one second is this tiresome film the least bit engrossing, as family entertainments go, however, "Shorts" differs in that the story unravels non-linearly, which may provide young moviegoers with the dexterity to enjoy sequentially-challenged films such as Christopher Nolan's "Memento" and Jill Sprecher's "13 Conversations About One Thing", when they grow up.