Starring
Lucas Till, Jane Levy, Holt McCallany, Rob Lowe, Thomas Lennon, Barry
Pepper, Danny Glover, Frank Whaley, Amy Ryan. Directed by Chris
Wedge. (2017, 104 min).
Somewhat
famously, Monster Trucks - which cost $125 million - was
actually completed nearly two years ago, its release date repeatedly
pushed back until it finally saw the light of day in January, the
month most movies are sent to die. By then, its studio, anticipating a
massive flop, had already taken a writedown on the film months before it even
reached theaters. Sure enough, Monster Trucks came and went
virtually unnoticed.
Is
it that bad? Not really.
Sure,
Monster Trucks is narratively clumsy and filled with bland,
cliched characters. And yeah, it looks like it was cynically
produced with tie-in toys in-mind, pandering to undemanding kids infatuated with both monsters and trucks. One might even be offended
by some of the blatant product placement on display (everyone drives
a Dodge, watches TV channels owned by Viacom and drinks Big Red). The
entire movie itself is more concept than creation, and probably
deserved to play to empty auditoriums.
On
the other hand, if you're in the right frame of mind (or a 10-year-old
boy), Monster Trucks plays surprisingly well at home, where
expectations are generally lower to begin with. Despite an utterly
predictable story loaded with heavy-handed themes we've seen in
countless other family films, it still manages to be sporadically
charming. The two lead teen characters, Tripp & Meredith (Lucas Till & Jane Levy, who are obviously well into their 20's)
may not be particularly dynamic, but they're likable enough to keep
us rooting for them.
 |
| When garden slugs go unchecked. |
The
premise, in which an evil oil executive (Rob Lowe) whose drilling
accidentally unleashes giant mollusk-like creatures who feed on oil,
is inherently ridiculous, but little kids aren't likely to care.
They'll be too enthralled by Creech, a slimy-yet-cute critter
who loves going fast by serving as the engine to Tripp's rusty old
pick-up. Of course, the oil company wants to keep drilling, with
plans to poison the ecosystem Creech came from, so they hire professional thug Burke (Holt
McCallany) to capture Creech so they can keep it secret. Typical of
films like this, it's up to the kids to save the day from the
nasty, heartless adults.
Kids probably wouldn't have it any other way, which one needs to
keep in-mind. Monster Trucks is unabashedly a children's movie
and everything that entails. It's colorful and fast-moving, with
interesting special effects and the type of silly humor that makes them giggle. There's also a considerable amount of vehicular
action & destruction, and what Hot Wheels loving little boy isn't gonna love that? If nothing else, Monster Trucks is
technically ambitious. Much of its considerable budget is obviously
right up there on the screen.
Monster
Trucks is ultimately a forgettable film, perhaps even irritating
from an adult perspective. But if you have kids, it's inoffensive
entertainment that's sure to amuse them a time or two. It's cynical,
assembly-line filmmaking, to be sure, though not as bad as its
reputation suggests.
EXTRA
KIBBLES
FEATURETTES:
"Who's Driving the Monster Trucks?"; "The Monster in
the Truck"; "Creating the Monster Truck"
GAG
REEL
DELETED
SCENES
PRODUCTION
DIARY
2
WALL DECALS
DVD
& DIGITAL COPIES
KITTY CONSENSUS:
NOT BAD...IF YOU HAVE KITTENS IN THE HOUSE
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