My nephew is currently seven years old. I used to bond with him watching Baby First (which these days he says are “for babies”) but now we bond while watching cartoons on the Cartoon Network. During one appointed bonding time with him, I decided to try something new: we watched the movie We Can Be Heroes on Netflix.
We Can Be Heroes is a sequel to the movie The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl that attempts to continue the superhero story now that Sharkboy and Lavagirl have grown up and, like all other heroes, have their own child. This movie is directed by Robert Rodriguez, who was also the director of the original film as well as the Spy Kids movie series.
In the movie, there is an alien invasion happening and Marcus Moreno (played by Pedro Pascal), a retired superhero, is forced to suit up and leave his daughter Missy under the care of the Heroics Headquarters. Missy joins a group of children whose parents are also a part of the superhero team called the Heroics, which includes a new grown-up Sharkboy and Lavagirl.
The Heroics end up captured and the children decide to take it upon themselves to escape and rescue their parents using their own powers. They stop over to train with the help of Missy’s grandmother, (who had trained the Heroics) and then they travel to the alien spaceship to attempt their rescue mission.
After several challenges, the kids all realize that they have to work together and make the best of each of their talents to save the planet and their parents. In the end, it is revealed that the aliens were actually not serious about their takeover but were merely testing the children to see if they are ready to become heroes themselves.
I thought that We Can Be Heroes was a good movie that shared some good lessons for kids and adults alike. It taught lessons on leadership, teamwork, and how sometimes adults take things too seriously and end up complicating things. It was also a fun, light-hearted watch for kids because my nephew enjoyed watching the different powers that the young heroes had. To this day he plays and pretends to be one of the kids in the movie when he says he is a superhero.
My favorite part would have to be realizing that Christian Slater is in the movie. I have not seen him in anything in a while so it was great to see him acting again. Another actor I’m a fan of, Sung Kang (Han of the Fast and the Furious movies), is also one of the parent superheroes in the film along with Slater.
Sadly, while this is a sequel of the Sharkboy and Lavagirl movie, the original Sharkboy was not able to reprise his role in this one. This meant the actor who took his place mostly stayed masked compared to the rest of the heroes and did not say much during the film. The original Lavagirl, Taylor Dooley, did most of the (unmasked) talking for them.
I have heard that some people were confused about who the original actors of Sharkboy and Lavagirl were. Some thought that Alexa Penavega, who was in Spy Kids (another Rodriguez film) was also Lavagirl. Add to that the confusion that some people think her husband, Carlos Penavega, played Sharkboy. They even had to go on Instagram to say that they were not part of the movie because people seemed to think they were. I have to admit I had confused Alexa for the girl who played Lavagirl too.
If you want something to watch with your kids that is light and shares some good values, this is a movie that you might want to see on Netflix!
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