We Can Be Heroes | |
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Directed by | Robert Rodriguez |
Written by | Robert Rodriguez |
Produced by |
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Starring |
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Cinematography | Robert Rodriguez |
Edited by | Robert Rodriguez |
Music by | Rebel Rodriguez |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Netflix |
Release date |
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Running time | 100 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | Unknown |
We Can Be Heroes is a 2020 American superhero kids film written and directed by Robert Rodriguez. It is both a standalone and legacy sequel to the 2005 film The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D . [1] [2] Rodriguez was also the cinematographer and editor of the film, which stars YaYa Gosselin, Lyon Daniels, Andy Walken, Hala Finley, Lotus Blossom, Dylan Henry Lau, Andrew Diaz, Isaiah Russel-Bailey, Akira Akbar, Nathan Blair, and Vivien Lyra Blair. It was released on December 25, 2020, by Netflix and received mixed reviews from critics. In 2021, a sequel was announced to be in development.
Missy Moreno is at home with her dad, Marcus, when they receive word to come to the rescue of heroes where Missy has to go with her father and be with other Heroics children.
Missy meets these other children there:
The kids watch the battle between the aliens and Heroics on television, ending with the Heroics' capture. Missy realizes that Ojo's drawings tell the future. When a drawing shows aliens breaking into the vault, the kids hatch a plan to escape.
Face Maker tricks the guards into coming into the vault where Guppy subdues them, but not before one of the guards triggers an emergency lockdown. Rewind sends them back in time, Wheels stops the guard from pushing the button, and Noodles steals their security badges. Mrs. Graneda spots Missy in the hallway and seals the doors, but A-Capella makes a staircase to the roof, allowing them to escape. Noodles secure a vehicle, and the kids escape.
They land at the home of Missy's grandmother, Anita Moreno, who is the Heroics' trainer and helps the kids master their powers and work as a team. The aliens arrive and Grandma sends the kids through a tunnel that leads to an empty field before she is captured. The kids spot an empty alien craft and use it to reach the Mother ship. Locating a room with a purple pyramid, they see the president and Ms. Graneda speaking. They are alien spies, sent to prepare Earth for a "takeover". The kids are placed in a cell. Guppy makes a replica of the key from the children's tears and opens the door. A fight between the kids and the aliens ensues, and Wild Card is caught and taken for questioning while the others seek the pyramid.
Wheels hacks into the motherboard, but Ojo reveals that she can speak and is the Supreme Commander of the aliens. Missy communicates with Wild Card in the control room; Face Maker has switched places with him. Graneda goes after Wild Card, but not before the protective shield around the motherboard is deactivated. With the kids holding off the aliens, Wheels and Noodles remove the motherboard and swap it with a new one deactivating the alien's rocket and foiling the takeover. To the kids' surprise, their parents emerge from the rocket. Ojo reveals that she and Ms. Graneda faked the "takeover" to train the kids to be the new Heroics. The kids reunite with their parents and are soon ready to save the world.
Robert Rodriguez wrote, directed, and produced We Can Be Heroes through his Troublemaker Studios. [4] Priyanka Chopra Jonas, [4] along with Christian Slater and Pedro Pascal, were announced to star. [5] Principal photography began in August 2019, shooting in Texas. [5] Visual effects were provided by Weta Digital. [6] The score was recorded at Synchron Stage in Vienna. [7]
The film was released on December 25, 2020, [8] pushed forward from a January 1, 2021, release date. [9]
Upon its release, the film was the most-watched title in its opening weekend, then finished third the following weekend before returning to first in its third weekend. [10] [11] It finished second behind new Netflix release Outside the Wire in its fourth weekend. [12] It was revealed that the film has been seen in 53 million households during the first four weeks. [13] It was the most-watched film on Netflix in 2021. [14]
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 74% based on 46 reviews, with an average rating of 6/10. The site's consensus reads, "Although it may be too zany for adults, We Can Be Heroes balances its sophisticated themes with heart and zealous originality." [15] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 51 out of 100, based on reviews from 10 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [16]
David Ehrlich of IndieWire called it a "zany, imaginative, and extremely kid-oriented Avengers riff that combines major stars with Snapchat-level special effects in order to lend a live-action Saturday morning cartoon vibe to a story about seizing your own destiny, We Can Be Heroes is the ultimate Troublemaker movie." [17]
In January 2021, Netflix announced they are planning to develop a sequel. [18] By August of the same year, Rodriguez confirmed that he would return in his role as director, while announcing that principal photography would take place in 2022. [19] As of 2024, there are no official updates on the film.
Robert Anthony Rodriguez is an American filmmaker, composer, and visual effects supervisor. He shoots, edits, produces, and scores many of his films in Mexico and in his home state of Texas. Rodriguez directed the 1992 action film El Mariachi, which was a commercial success after grossing $2.6 million against a budget of $7,000. The film spawned two sequels known collectively as the Mexico Trilogy: Desperado (1995) and Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003).
Spy Kids is an American media franchise centered on a series of spy action comedy films created by Robert Rodriguez. The plot follows various children, who discover that their respective parents are spies and become involved in an espionage organization when their parents go missing. The films include Hispanic themes, as Rodriguez is of Mexican descent.
The Greatest American Hero is an American comedy-drama superhero television series that aired on ABC. Created by producer Stephen J. Cannell, it premiered as a two-hour pilot movie on March 18, 1981, and ran until February 2, 1983. The series features William Katt as teacher Ralph Hinkley, Robert Culp as FBI agent Bill Maxwell, and Connie Sellecca as lawyer Pam Davidson. The lead character's surname was temporarily changed to "Hanley" for a few months immediately after President Ronald Reagan and three others were shot and wounded by John Hinckley Jr. on March 30, 1981.
Teen Titans is an American animated superhero television series created by Glen Murakami and developed by Murakami, David Slack and Sam Register. Based on DC Comics's superhero team Teen Titans, it was produced by Warner Bros. Animation, and DC Comics. The show premiered on Cartoon Network on July 19, 2003; its first two seasons also aired on Kids' WB. Initially, only four seasons were planned, but the popularity of the series led to Cartoon Network ordering a fifth season. The final half-hour episode of the show, "Things Change", aired on January 16, 2006; it was later followed by a TV movie, Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo, that premiered on September 15 the same year, serving as the series finale. A 15-minute episode titled "The Lost Episode" was released as part of an online promotional campaign by Post Consumer Brands in January 2005.
Madman is a creator-owned fictional superhero that appears in comic books by creator Mike Allred and which has been published by a number of publishers over the years. The character first appeared in Creatures of the Id #1. His name, Frank Einstein, is a combination of Frank Sinatra and Albert Einstein, and is also a reference to Frankenstein.
Troublemaker Studios is an American production company founded and owned by filmmaker Robert Rodriguez and producer Elizabeth Avellán.
The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D 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 Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (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.
Kid Colt is the name of two fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The first is a cowboy whose adventures have taken place in numerous western-themed comic book series published by Marvel. The second is a cowboy-themed horse-like superhero. The character's first appearance was in Kid Colt #1.
Sky High is a 2005 American superhero comedy film directed by Mike Mitchell, and written by Paul Hernandez, and Kim Possible creators Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle. The film stars Kelly Preston, Michael Angarano, Danielle Panabaker, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Kurt Russell. It follows Will Stronghold (Angarano), the son of two superheroes, who is enrolled in an airborne high school for teenage superheroes where his powers kick in. He must deal with a growing distance from his old friends, a threat from a mysterious supervillain, and get the girl of his dreams.
Brently Heilbron is an American comedian, musician, and actor based in Austin, Texas. He is best known for Tiny Desk Concerts with emo puppet band Fragile Rock and his work with director Robert Rodriguez.
Krrish is an Indian media franchise of superhero films, television series, comics and video games. The film series is directed, produced and written by Rakesh Roshan. Krrish is considered Indian cinema's first such film series. All three films star Rakesh's son Hrithik. The films are centred, initially, on a mentally disabled boy who has an encounter with an extraterrestrial being, and later, his son, who grows up to be a reluctant superhero Krrish.
PJ Masks is an animated superhero children's television series based on the Les Pyjamasques book series by Romuald Racioppo. Produced by Frog Box and Entertainment One in collaboration with TeamTO and Disney Junior, its production has the participation of France Télévisions and Disney Junior. The series is broadcast worldwide on Disney Branded Television's Disney Junior channels; in its home country of France, it airs on France 5.
Kid Cosmic is an American animated superhero television series created by Craig McCracken and developed by McCracken, his wife Lauren Faust and Francisco Angones for Netflix. The series was based on his 2009 comic The Kid from Planet Earth. Produced in-house by Netflix Animation, the show is McCracken's first to have a serialized format, as well as his second foray into the superhero genre, having previously created The Powerpuff Girls. Illustrated in a "retro 2D" style inspired by comics such as Dennis the Menace and The Adventures of Tintin, the series follows Kid, a young boy who gets a chance to become a superhero and fight evil aliens alongside other characters with different abilities.
Jupiter's Legacy is an American superhero television series that premiered on Netflix on May 7, 2021. Based on the 2013–22 comic book series of the same name by Mark Millar and Frank Quitely, the show was developed for television by Steven S. DeKnight, who initially served as showrunner, but was replaced by Sang Kyu Kim midway through production. It stars Josh Duhamel, Ben Daniels, Leslie Bibb, Andrew Horton, Elena Kampouris, Mike Wade, and Matt Lanter. The series received mixed reviews from critics, and was canceled after one season, with a spin-off continuation, a live-action adaptation of the 2012 comic book Supercrooks, ordered to series. Super Crooks, an anime adaptation of Supercrooks set in the same fictional universe as Jupiter's Legacy, preceding the additional live-action series, was released to Netflix in November 2021.
Red 11 is a 2019 American science fiction horror film produced, and directed by Robert Rodriguez. Rodriguez co-wrote the film with his son Racer Max, after previously collaborating on The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D in 2005. The film is inspired by Robert Rodriguez's experiences described in his 1995 book Rebel Without a Crew. The film stars Roby Attal, Lauren Hatfield, Alejandro Rose-Garcia, Eman Esfandi, Steve Brudniak, Brently Heilbron, Pierce Foster Bailey, Katherine Willis, Ulysses Montoya, and Carlos Gallardo.
StarBeam is a superhero animated television series created for Netflix by Loris Lunsford and Jason Netter. The show follows Zoey, a young girl who is a superhero.
Felisita Leon "YaYa" Gosselin is an American actress. She began her career modelling for commercials and made her acting debut in After Omelas (2017). Following this, she made minor appearances in Peppermint (2018), The Purge (2018), 13 Reasons Why (2019–2020), and FBI (2019–2020). She reprised her role in its spin-off FBI: Most Wanted (2020–2022) as Tali LaCroix in which she was a regular in the second season. Gosselin gained wide recognition for playing the lead role of Missy Moreno in Netflix's We Can Be Heroes (2020).
Vivien Lyra Blair is an American child actress. She made her debut in Band Aid (2017) and rose to prominence for her role as Girl in Bird Box (2018). Blair garnered further recognition for her appearances in video game Telling Lies (2019) and superhero film We Can Be Heroes (2020). In 2022, she received critical praise for her portrayal of Leia Organa in the streaming series Obi-Wan Kenobi. She later had a supporting role in the horror film The Boogeyman (2023).