Overall Thoughts: Perfectly fine for kids' fare, but below par for Rodriguez.
Robert Rodriguez has been a very interesting director for the past two decades. He's created some pretty intense movies (Sin City, Alita - Battle Angel), but his best work for me has been his family films. Of course, I may be a little biased since I grew up on the Spy Kids franchise. But, I feel like Rodriguez creates kids' movies unlike any other director out there. He has such an imaginative style that captures childlike wonder. I saw that in Shorts (a very underrated film) and The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl.
And speaking of the latter film, the titular characters reappear here! It's a really nice surprise. Taylor Dooley returns as a grown-up Lavagirl, while Sharkboy is left with no lines of dialogue and completely recast (I think there's a lot of people clueless as to why Taylor Lautner chose not to return). However, putting that bit of nostalgia aside, We Can Be Heroes truthfully isn't quite as good as Rodriguez's earlier family fare.
I can say it isn't for lack of trying, and I do feel that the director's creative touch is still there. The kids are still given a sense of imagination and bits of interesting wisdom here and there. And the visual effects and overall tone give off a low-key, Saturday morning vibe. But, at the same time, the film does carry a few annoying story issues. The climactic action sequence takes too long (especially given the stakes). And, the ending, while trying to be ambitious, just doesn't work. It comes way out of left field and doesn't carry a payoff that really satisfies.
Also, there's way too many characters to follow. There are 11 kids here, and Rodriguez tries really hard to give them all time to shine. But only two or three of them are really memorable (my personal favorites were Facechanger and Rewind, though it was an awesome touch to have a child superhero in a wheelchair), with the others getting maybe one or two funny gags apiece. The main character, Missy (YaYa Gosselin), is given a solid arc to help her build her confidence and leadership skills. But outside of her and maybe Wild Card, no one else really stands out. But, it's hard to write for so many characters without feeling like there was more to be done. It might honestly have been much better off with half of the overall cast of kids.
As for the adult actors, 2020 turned out to be a great year for Pedro Pascal. And he once again brings a solid sense of heart and soul to his character, not too far gone from The Mandalorian. Adriana Barraza, meanwhile, makes a terrific grandmother for Missy. She's encouraging, fun, and carries a very infectious personality. Most of the other characters are fine (including Lavagirl), but they aren't given much dialogue because (like the kids) there's too many of them to keep up with. Meanwhile, Priyanka Chopra Jonas is definitely miscast her role. She's way too over the top to really make a solid impression.
However, there are a couple of solid twists in the overall proceedings that do provide a solid sense of misdirect. Rodriguez's cinematography, editing, and music score are all suitable for the film's themes. And some of the humorous moments do hit their target, especially for adults watching at home (with the exception of a few moments commenting on modern politics).
So, ultimately, We Can Be Heroes is OK. For me, it suffers some from being too crowded and anticlimactic. It's not going to be a classic in my book. But, I think kids will really enjoy it for its' zany, imaginative fun and entertaining pace. And that's fine with me.
Grade: B-
Is this movie family-friendly? We Can Be Heroes is rated PG for "mild action/violence". That's pretty accurate, as the film has a handful of scenes that are a little perilous and involve cartoony visual-effects related violence (nothing bloody). But, outside of slightly creepy tentacles appearing on some character's backs, there's nothing here that would really be considered frightening for kids under the age of first grade. There's one or two uses of "oh my g**". There's a couple of winking references to political figures. And kids do break the rules specifically to just save the world, so parents will probably need to have a conversation about how different that is in real life.
