Spare Parts

Ever so often amongst all the high-budget, commercial bonanza films out there to temp us into the multiplex, we are offered a small, independent film with the hopes that it will teach us, inspire us and maybe, just maybe cause us to stop, think and reflect. As with the case of "Spare Parts", this inspiring film based on a true story will hopefully do just that.

Four undocumented Mexican-American students, Oscar (Carlos PenaVega), Cristian (David Del Rio), Lorenzo (Jose Julian) and Hector (J.R. Villareal) form a robotics club under the leadership of their school's newest teacher Fredi Cameron (George Lopez). With no experience, 800 bucks, used car parts, PVC piping and a dream, this rag tag team goes up against the country's reigning robotics team--MIT and other college teams at UCSB's annual National Underwater Robotics Competition. On their journey, they learn not only how to build a robot-- they learn to build a bond that will last a lifetime as well.

Others to round out the cast are Jamie Lee Curtis as the Principal, Marisa Tomei as Gwen, another teacher, Alexa PenaVega as Karla, Esai Morales as Mr. Santillan, Lorenzo's father, and Aubrey K. Miller as Maddy, Gwen's daughter.

This was directed by the inspirational film king himself, Sean McNamara ("Treehouse Hostage" '99, "Race to Space" '01, "Raise Your Voice" '04, "Bratz" '07, "Soul Surfer" '11, "Space Warriors" '13, "Field of Lost Shoes" '14). This guy definitely has the ability to pull our proverbial heart strings. I've seen other films of this type and it's extremely easy to make the film come across as sappy and sentimental, but McNamara creates the right amount of emotion so who the audience is looking at is someone that comes across as real with real issues that need solving. This was written by Elissa Matsueda based on the Wired Magazine article, "La Vida Robot" by Joshua Davis. With the exception of a few choppy areas in script, this story was conveyed with such pathos and urgency. Sure, there were also a bit of a lull in the middle of the film, but once it took off, it absolutely soared. This is truly an underdog does good overcoming incredible odds type of film. And as this reaches the end will have the toughest cynic standing up and cheering.

Once in a while, all must see these types of films, because they always give us something to think about and hopefully will look at someone else in a more positive light and cause us to lean on each other more than we do.

Out of 4 Stars: 3                                  Rated: PG-13                              113mins.