j* movie reviews 2020

Monster Trucks (2016

This is part ET, part Free Willy and a whole lot of trucking wild times.

There's a lot that's really obvious from the trailer-box with this. There's squidly monsters and they live inside trucks. "Monster Trucks" - get it - it's a cute kid-play on words. And the monster trucks have to go on chases and do some hilarious things and there's some bad guys. If you like truck chaos, sign up now.

But there's also a whole huge big environmental storyline to the film that involves and evil oil drilling company and an evil-scientist who turns good. It is a kids film, so yes, this is told at a delightfully simple and straightforward level. But it is well told.

Our main boy Tripp is played by Lucas Till (you might recognise him from Xmen) and he is really working that 90210 vibe of "I'm a highschool boy... at 26." There is a quip from his biology-tutor-come-love interest about "oh, you're not dumb" and maybe it wasn't just his grease-monkey demeanour. Maybe she really did think he was a 26 year old man who'd been repeating school for a really long time. Because he was not a very believable highschooler... possibly there for Mum-bait, I don't know.

Anyway, the bad oil company unearths the weird, deep-cavey squid beasts. One takes a liking to using Tripp's dodgy old truck as a wheelchair. Then a quite detailed story unfolds where they have to escape the oil-henchmen and find the squid-beasts parents and return them all to their deep-cave home. Again, I give huge props to a film that sells one angle to get bums on seats and then hits that truck-loving crowd with a neato little environmental message about gas-guzzling.

I really enjoyed the squid-beast, the main one, who is called Creech has an amazing beast-chemistry relationship with Tripp. It reminds me quite a bit of Stitch from Lilo & Stitch. The story does err into slightly saccharine territory at times, and there are things in there that just pissed me off a little.... You know, like pink and blue gender coded monsters, a female love interest who's a biology nerd but also super prissy and textbook cute-girl-squealing. It is a Nickelodeon and it has that Disney feel to me.

What this film really does super well is the embodiment of trucks as kids experience them. I always love the "pure joy" of what I see as "childlike direction" and this nails it. Not only are some trucks being possessed by living beings, which is a sense kids have of machines, but the beings are in charge. The trucks leap, cavort and generally fly through the air and visualise the hectic sense of childplay delightfully well. The last film I really felt nailed this sense of "childplay direction" was San Andreas. Monster Trucks also brings in one of the biggest of the big trucks... I am always impressed to see those even if it wasn't as yellow as I like. And it served a super useful action-purpose - F&F take note. And this is a great piece of PG Fast & Furious type car action, if you're a parental-fan looking for more car-fun. You've probably already seen it if that's you.

Anyway, this film is super hard for me to score, definitely my hardest score in 2020 so far.

As a functioning adult who doesn't mind a good kids film, I did find it a bit to sweet at times. That part of me wants to give it three. But for joyous truck direction and the excellent portrayal of environmental issues around oil mining, I'm bumping it up. Because I applaud its efforts, even if I don't appreciate it quite that much.

J* gives it 4 stars.

But I probably don't recommend it unless you have a thing for squidbeasts, trucks, Lucas Till, bioluminescence or saving the Earth's creatures.