Spare Parts - B-

Rated PG-13, 113 minutes
Wes's Grade: B-

Uplifting and very familiar, "Spare Parts" still makes you feel good

Most easily described, "Spare Parts" is "Stand and Deliver" crossed with underwater robots. On that note, the mildly engaging movie seemingly uses spare parts of other feel-good movies, but it has enough heart to still entertain. The movie is based on a true story about four undocumented Hispanic high school students (Carlos PeanVega, Jose Julian, David Del Rio and Oscar Gutierrez) in Arizona who form a robotics club under the leadership of their school's newest teacher, Fredi (George Lopez). With no experience, $800, used car parts and a dream, this rag tag team goes up against the country's reigning robotics champion, MIT. On their journey, they learn not only how to build a robot- they learn to build a bond that will last a lifetime. Directed by Sean McNamara ("Soul Surfer"), co-produced by Lopez and based on an article called "La Vida Robot" by Wired magazine's Joshua Davis that details the events in 2004, the predictable"Spare Parts" is a movie you've seen many times before, and each time it seems to inspire in spite of the mountain of underdog cliches it seems to throw at the screen. The good thing is that Lopez is a tad more restrained here as their teacher, and he's well-supported by Oscar-winner Marisa Tomei (obviously slumming it here) and Jamie Lee Curtis, stealing scenes and mugging as the supportive principal. The story, while affecting, has little substance and some of it played for misplaced laughs or cliches, but "Spare Parts" is still uplifting (the fascinating underwater robotics scenes are actually the best part of the movie), and like the many movies that have come before it, show that you can still succeed in spite of challenges faced. The immigration angle, which is a hot topic these days politically, isn't as overbearing as you might think, given that the four guys were all undocumented at the time of the story, some of which was altered for the screen (the high school, Carl Hayden High, is a real, award-winning magnet school in Phoenix made to look much rougher here, and Lopez's character is actually based not on one, but two teachers). Stay over for the credits to get the lowdown - updates and photographs - on the real students and teachers who were the basis of the story, who deserve a better assembled movie than this. Predictable yet likable, "Spare Parts" could've been better, but it'll do.