Monster Trucks

The story is simple, not a smart one, not a funny one (ok, a bit). Just a simple story for an evening entertainment. Not a great story to be taught. Several months passed since we watched this, only 3 years old boy somehow remembers the monster truck, the rest of kids never discussed it, what I see is quite bad for such a budget.

I want to commend the filmmakers on this film. There was a lot of bad press about it even coming from the studio as writing it off as a loss before it was even released.

My kids (11 and 8) have been wanting to see it since we saw a trailer ages ago. I thought the concept was a bit crazy, but it did seem like fun.

After reading that Paramount was already writing it down as a loss, pretty much told me the movie must not be that good. I didn't want to not take my kids just because of that.

Cut to today. We saw the fist showing this morning. I have to say the movie was a lot of fun. It called back to films from the 80's when I was a little film-goer. Director Chris Wedge really made a fun film that has monsters and trucks, it truly lived up to it's title. I feel like he (the director) was really pulling from films like the Explorers, Flight of the Navigator, and a bit of Gremlins. Funny, action packed and not long for the sake of being long like so many movies today. It told a cute story and let us on our way.

About halfway through the movie, I realized why I was enjoying it. It was not something from another property, no comic book characters, it wasn't a sequel. It was something to get wrapped up in and enjoy.

I just wanted to say that we really enjoyed it and I hope more people give it a chance. It's not going to solve the world's problems, but it's certainly going to entertain you. First thing my 11- year-old said after it was over was, "Can we see this again tomorrow?" Not sure if there is a better admission of how fun it was.

Very fun!

Watched Monster trucks today with my five year old son and we both loved it. He was pretty much glued to the screen the entire time and he got a bit teary at the end! The film centres on a lad who spends all his spare time building a truck at a junkyard he helps out around, three undiscovered squid like creatures escape from a nearby oil drilling project. One of these finds his way into the truck and ends up powering it and of course the usual bad guys want it back story line evolves. Nothing new in terms of originality or plot, in fact it had so many plot holes it was ridiculous but it's a kids film. Actors did a good job and the monsters were likable. Quite a lot of action and humour too, it's never dull. Definitely a boys/male film I think in my opinion. a kind of a cross between "the legend of the waterhorse", "ET" and "Herbie" Recommended.

'MONSTER TRUCKS': Four Stars (Out of Five)

The new live-action/computer-animated action comedy, directed by Chris Wedge; who's also directed (or co-directed) such hit computer- animated kids movies as 'ICE AGE', 'ROBOTS' and 'EPIC'. The film is about a high school senior, who befriends an unknown subterranean creature; and then uses it to power his monster truck (which he built himself, from old cars). The two also team up, to save the creature (and others like it), from ruthless businessmen. It was written by Derek Connolly, Mathew Robinson, Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger. The movie stars ​Lucas Till (of 'X-MEN' fame), Jane Levy (of 'DON'T BREATHE' and 'EVIL DEAD' fame), Thomas Lennon, Barry Pepper, Rob Lowe, Holt McCallany, Amy Ryan, Frank Whaley and Danny Glover. It was made on a budget of $125 million, and it's only expected to make a fraction of that back (in theaters). It's also gotten mostly negative reviews from critics, but I really enjoyed it!

Tripp Coley (Till) lives in a small North Dakota town, which is ran by big business (a ruthless oil company). He hates his mom's boyfriend, who's also the town's sheriff (Pepper), and he really wants to leave town. Tripp is also fascinated by automobiles, and he builds himself a monster truck (out of old scrapped car parts) to leave town in. The truck still needs an engine though. One night, while he's working on his truck, Tripp finds an undiscovered subterranean creature resting nearby. He then befriends it, and names it Creech. He also learns that the creature loves speed, and it can power his truck just like an engine could. Tripp also later learns that the ruthless oil businessmen want to catch Creech, and kill him, as well as other subterranean critters like it (which the oil company accidentally let loose). Tripp teams up with Creech, and a friendly girl from school (Levy), to save this new species.

The movie is a lot of fun; the visuals are great, the critters are cool, and the action scenes are entertaining. It's also kind of an animal rights movie, so I love it automatically for that, but it's also reminiscent of other classic 'boy befriends alien' (or animal) kids movies. It's definitely the type of film I would have loved as a kid, and the cast is all great in it. I also think Wedge is a pretty talented director, at making awesome animated (or partially animated) kids movies. I really don't understand the negative reviews!

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"Monster Trucks" is one of those movies where you may not start out having much expectation about it but boy it proves you wrong. It's just a good old fashioned super fun action adventure that the entire family can enjoy. The concept may be a bit quirky, I admit, but if the kids laugh and they smile and their parents giggle, I think it's fair to say that "Monster Trucks" does exactly what it's supposed to do.

Directed by the guy who gave us "Ice Age," "Robots," and "Epic," "Monster Trucks" is about a high school senior named Tripp (Lucas Till) who builds his own truck from bits and pieces of scrapped cars. A nearby oil-drilling site's accident causes subterranean creatures to surface, two get caught by the greedy corporation while one escapes to the junkyard where Tripp works. Tripp encounters the new friend, names him Creech and turns out, Creech has the need for speed.

I think "Monster Trucks" is the most exciting and hilarious feel-good family movie since Disney's "Alexander And The Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day," a few years ago. In fact I think those two are quite alike in a lot of ways. Sure "Alexander" didn't have the melding cutting edge VFX and state of the art CGI that "Monster Trucks" has but in terms of the humor and tone, both movies aim to entertain and bring up good topics for the younger viewers.

Granted, it always cracks me up whenever I see people in their late 20s playing high-schoolers, such is the case with Lucas Till and Jane Levy with their respective characters, but that's not anything new in this business, and the actual star here is really the creature Creech who drinks oil and loves to ride fast. The car chases are also surprisingly inventive for a family movie, they're no "French Connection" or "Ronin" obviously but they certainly capitalize on Creech's abilities to make Tripp's truck do the impossible. The movie even frequently plays with heights which gives you that roller coaster thrill. All in all, "Monster Trucks" is an excellent way to start this new year for your family at the movies.

-- Rama's Screen --