Critics reviews

It can be obvious, as when a defense of the imagination quickly becomes preachy. People who've seen Rodriguez's Spy Kids movies may find the tacky, low-budget effects suggesting a kind of K-Mart surrealism a bit worn, along with his nonviolent scenario; nothing's scary, and everything's so light it's on the verge of evaporating. Yet I'm still charmed by Rodriguez's low-tech, antistudio ideology, a mainstay of his best work since El Mariachi (1993).