Hot Take: 'The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl' is a Cinematic Masterpiece.

"Everything that is or was began with a dream"

In the past, whenever I found myself defending this movie (a conversation I find myself having embarrassingly often) I would usually start my defense with "it's not a masterpiece but...". As I have grown older, I have decided to take that statement back. This movie is a masterpiece. The quality of The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl cannot be represented by a digit, it would be futile to assign this movie a rating out of five stars. One cannot describe this movie with words like good or bad; even "so-bad-it's-good" fails to capture this movie. This movie is an anomaly of massive proportions.

For those of you who aren't of the same generation as me, (I fall right in between the Millenial and Gen-z so I don't really fit in with either) The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl, is a 2005 cult-classic family/adventure film that was directed by the great Robert Rodriguez whose unique filmography includes films like this and Spy Kids along with films like Sin City, El Mariachi and From Dusk Till Dawn. But even though Robert Rodriguez is credited as this movies director, that's not entirely true.

Robert Rodriguez directed this movie in the same way the employee at Subway made your lunch. You chose the bread, the type of cheese, whether to toast it or not (side note, if you don't get your subs toasted, I don't want to be friends with you) and you chose the toppings. The employee was there to execute your ideas. Robert Rodriguez was like that subway employee and you are like his kids. His kids wrote the screenplay for this movie. They created all the characters. It was their imaginations that decided what planet-drool looked like. This movie was conceived of and created by children. But because they were children at the time they had their Dad - an experienced filmmaker - come in and simply execute his kids ideas.

The result is a bizarre yet beautiful fantasy that will induce utter bewilderment in its target audience. And if you will allow yourself to turn off your critical minded brain, you might even feel that sense of wonder yourself. Because this is a movie created by children and it captures the world from a child's perspective unlike any movie I have ever seen.

The protagonist of this movie is a young boy named Max with a head full of dreams. He carries around a "dream journal" where he records his dreams so that he won't forget them. Bullied by classmates and stressed over his parents crumbling marriage, young Max escapes reality by dreaming into existence the fantastical Lavagirl and Sharkboy. But one day, Lavagirl and Sharkboy suddenly show up in Max's real life in need of a hero. They take Max to their world, Planet Drool. As Max escapes to Planet Drool, he battles aliens and tries to save his new friends' planet from destruction. He also battles his bullies, who have become villains. His mean spirited classmate Linus becomes the villainous Minus while his teacher, Mr. Elictridad becomes the evil Mr. Electric. There's no shortage of electricity puns in this movie. George Lopez plays Mr. Electric and he is clearly having so much fun in this movie, his performance is fused with energy.

Even before we go to planet drool this film captures the mind of a child wonderfully. Every character in this movie is an extreme, there are moments where Mr. Electricidad is incredibly thoughtful and compassionate towards Max, but the moments where he is angry he is relentless. This is how exactly how a child perceives their teacher. When your teacher was being nice they were extremely nice, but when they were angry it was truly a terrifying experience. And they could go between personas instantaneously with the flip of a switch.

Another awesome thing about the movie? The score. Well to be honest, some of the score. There were three composers who worked on the music in this movie. All of it is fine but it lacks consistency. The Lavagirl theme however, Composed by Robert Rodriguez himself, is one the most overlooked film scores of the past 20 years, it's really slaps.

The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl is a film that forces you to make a decision: you can choose to enjoy this movie for the sincere child-like sense of wonder it takes you back to, or you can continue down the path you have started on and become an overly cynical buzzkill. And that's probably what you'll do because that is the person you have chosen to be. Plot twist: This article is not about The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl, this article is about you. What happened to you? At some point you lost touch with your inner child and now you are becoming a cold-hearted, critical complainer filled with discontent for anything in this world that is whimsical or childlike. Have you thought that this might be why it feels like you are pushing your friends away? Does it feel good to live like this? Is this the person you want to be? If it is, you do you. If not, go ahead and let The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl bring out your inner child and inspire you to "dream a better dream."