The greatest thing about this film is not that it has an adorable dog or even that it features Michael Rooker with a full head of hair, but that it gives its audience exactly what they came for: love and monsters. Love and Monsters is a fantastically fun adventure film that is one of my biggest surprises of this year. I have been excited about this movie for weeks since first seeing the trailer and I am so happy to say that I was not let down. From the unique writing to the incredible creature design, there is so much to love about this harmless, apocalyptic family movie. Sure, the direction can be a bit slow and most of the plot points are fairly predictable but there is nothing to be found in this movie except pure entertainment. This is surprising, given that the idea is wholly original and not based on any previous works but all of its elements come together to make one of the cutest sci-fi stories I have seen in quite some time.
Seven years after the Monsterpocalypse, mutated creatures roam the earth and have taken control of all the land as the remaining humans live underground in bunkers. When Joel (Dylan O'Brien) is finally able to reconnect with his high school girlfriend Aimee (Jessica Henwick) and finds out that she only lives 80 miles away, he decides to risk his life going to the surface and traveling across the monster-ridden land to find her. This futuristic premise is a fantastic blend of genre and as the name implies, contains a great mix of both romance and sci-fi. The script from Brian Duffield and Matthew Robinson is excellent and they are able to brilliantly combine these two genres to make such an exciting, little movie that anyone can rightfully enjoy. The romantic aspects of this film were very John Hughes-esque in the sense that these young characters have fallen so greatly in love with no real, explored history. While there is plenty of background written to justify Joel's choice to leave his bunker, the plot still falls deep into the pit of hopeless romance. But sometimes, and often with this type of adventure film, that willingness to do anything for someone you love is crucial and for Joel, his mission was the most important thing to him. Despite characters that he runs into along the way warning him against such blinding love, such as Clyde (Michael Rooker) and Minnow (Ariana Greenblatt), Joel persists and his steadfast character traits are what make him so lovable. Paired with a tendency to freeze when confronted by the massive monstrosities, Joel is such a quirky and relatable character that I feel a lot of us can connect with on both an emotional and stubborn level. All of the characters throughout Love and Monsters might have been a bit archetypal for this genre of movie but they all played their parts very well. My only issue with this film was Michael Matthews' direction. While he handles the story relatively well, it is much longer than it needs to be and so many scenes follow the same formula over and over again, which became a bit dull. Although Matthews' direction could have used a bit more clarification in parts and could have led the audience in more understandable ways, all of the pieces come together to make this such an imaginative and unique movie.
Love and Monsters might follow a very recognizable formula with the lovely plot fueled by its young characters but there are genuinely some other elements that make it stand out. The part of Duffield and Robinson's script that I loved most was how the ending took a bit more of a twist than I was expecting. Minor (predictable) spoilers ahead but the moment when Joel is finally able to reach Aimee and realizes that she never really wanted him there as a love interest in the first place was such an honest and authentic way of writing this story's climax. It paved the way for Joel to realize that the true and reliable love in his life has always been his community of people in the bunkers. He knows that they will always be there for him and after spending seven years of his life growing and bonding, he has an epiphany of their undying love. This message of loving your family, despite not always being related by blood, is such an overused one but it fits its way into this film like no other. Many movies need to be made to make their audience feel good and Love and Monsters accomplishes just that: by creating this neverending sense of community that the character of Joel can thrive in. Dylan O'Brien embodies this incredibly well too and while his performance might not be anything awards-worthy, he is just having a blast in this film and it is obvious from the get-go. O'Brien is such an awkwardly charming lead that steals this movie like no one else could and getting to see him roam the earth with a dog running away from monsters and learning life lessons is something that can just be so personal. The monster design in this movie is surprisingly well-thought-out and I loved the variance and lore that was explored. All of the insects and amphibians had been mutated due to the apocalypse and the way they were designed to become giant, often disgusting-looking beasts were fantastic. I was never bored by the colorful, dazzling visuals of this film like I often am with apocalypse movies and while it is very apparent loads of CGI were used to create these horrible monsters, it works very well for the tone that this movie is establishing. This film is some of the most fun I've had watching from home this year and I would strongly recommend this for a fun movie night, as it is definitely worth its price.
Michael Matthews' Love and Monsters is an absolutely enormous delight, bringing Dylan O'Brien (one of the original white boys of the month) back into the spotlight in such an admirable way. He is definitely able to carry a purely fun movie such as this and the lovable characters throughout this film make for such an unabashedly goofy time. I am actually zealous that I did not go into this film with incredibly high expectations because when it comes to a movie like this, that is not the route to take. But when it comes to enjoying an exciting and unique take on the ever-popular, apocalyptic genre that we almost seem to be living at this point, Love and Monsters gives us just what we need.
My Rating: ★★★½
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