The movie follows the adventures of 10-year-old Max (Cameron Richardson) and his sister Zoe (Emily Perkins), who are trying to navigate their unhappy home lives. Max creates an imaginary world called "Mundo de los Fantasmos", where a superhero named Sharkboy (Vic Morrow) and his partner Lavagirl (Jessica Alba) save the world from an evil villain called Professor Frazz (Kyle MacLachlan).
While critics panned the "chintzy" CGI, Rodriguez was actually at the forefront of digital filmmaking. He shot almost the entire film on green screens in his Austin studio, Troublemaker Digital , utilizing 11 different VFX houses for over 1,000 shots.
Looking back at the 2005 credits, the cast list is surprisingly prestigious:
PG