Queen of the Treasure Island 

I think we can all agree that Wonder Woman is fiction’s strongest female lead to ever hit the big screen. However, it hurts my heart to say that her latest film appearance was not nearly as strong. With actors Gal Gadot and Chris Pine reprising their roles, my expectations for this sequel were higher than they were for the original. With the additions of Kristen Wiig and Pedro Pascal as villains Cheetah and Maxwell Lord respectively, Warner Brothers set themselves up for success with a more than stellar cast of well-seasoned actors.

The overall diversity scattered throughout the ensemble was a good representation of the 1980s time period in America. The theme of truth and the importance of authenticity were impactful, and I hope that young people around the world hear this message and live by it. So you might be wondering, what went wrong? It’s difficult to fully comprehend what could have been different to fix this 2:30 hr film which could have been so great. The absence of a plot structure that flows, a cinematic crutch that made any impossible idea possible, and incredibly unimpressive CGI are just a few of the reasons why this film with potential fell flat for me.

While some may know him from Sin City and Machete fame, my generation knows Robert Rodriguez as the creator (and writer/director/editor) of iconic films like Sharkboy and Lavagirl and the Spy Kids franchise. Whether he’s making action films or kids’ films, Robert Rodriguez has never made a film that was not fun. We Can Be Heroes is no different. It’s got all the classic markings of a kids adventure film: ridiculous spy tech, silly costumes, quippy one-liners from precocious kids. The plot is a classic kid superhero plot, where for some reason the parents are out of commission and the kids have to take over. (Sky High anyone?) A refreshing twist is that all the kids’ powers are...kind of useless. There’s a kid who can only move in slow motion, a kid who has every power in the world but can only use them randomly, and our main character Missy(Ya-Ya Gosselin) who has no powers at all. The thesis of the film seems to be that it doesn’t matter what kind of powers you have, its the way you use them, which is good for the warm and fuzzies.