Lucas Till as Tripp in Monster Trucks. Image via Paramount Pictures.
Sometimes, the story behind a film is more interesting than the film itself. And, when that proves true, it often happens for all of the wrong reasons. Shot in early 2014, only to have its release pushed back several times over in the intervening years, that’s almost the case with Monster Trucks. There’s certainly nothing on screen that’s as fascinating as the off-screen stalling and financial brawling behind the first live-action effort from Ice Age’s Chris Wedge; however the family-friendly attempt to turn giant, gas-guzzling, car-controlling amphibious creatures into cute, loveable critters isn’t quite the mess its many delays may make it seem.
What Monster Trucks is, then, is generic from start to finish as it harks back to the all-ages fare of two decades and more ago. Screenwriter Derek Connolly (Jurassic World) might’ve been charged with turning a story conjured up by Matthew Robinson (The Invention of Lying), Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger (Trolls) – and reported to have been inspired by conversations between a former Paramount Pictures executive and his four-year-old son – into a feature screenplay, but what he’s channelling is the kind of broad-appealling animal and alien-based movies that once filled cinema screens regularly. Both the good and the overly schmaltzy will spring to mind: E.T. the Extra Terrestrial on one side, Free Willy on the other.
A teenager, a car, and a many-tentacled, underground-dwelling organism drive the narrative, with a greedy oil company, a dutiful love interest, and parental issues also thrown in for good measure. Unhappy after his parents’ divorce, and unfussed by his mother’s (Amy Ryan, The Infiltrator) new sheriff boyfriend (Barry Pepper, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials), mechanically minded high schooler Tripp (Lucas Till, TV’s MacGyver) dreams of fixing up his own set of wheels so that he can leave his small-town home, but struggles with the means to do so. The solution couldn’t be stranger, thanks to the wilful environmental exploitation of a company called Terravex. Their latest drilling efforts have forced three previously undiscovered creatures from their subterranean habitat – and one quite likes being used a living, breathing truck engine.
Monster trucks with real monsters inside isn’t the most complex concept, and nor are the exploits that result. That extends to the routine drama that spans parental conflict and environmental concerns, as well as the by-the-book performances to match (including Don’t Breathe’s Jane Levy as the aforementioned paramour, and Parks and Recreation’s Rob Lowe as a villainous oil executive). Editor Conrad Buff IV (The Huntsman: Winter’s War) slices up both the action and the aimed-for emotion with frequency, to the detriment of the narrative and some of the more high-profile members of the cast. Visually, cinematographer Don Burgess’ (Allied) images are improved by the CGI critters, but otherwise remain boilerplate and bland.
And yet, anyone familiar with the films that Monster Trucks happily mines can be forgiven for feeling a slight pang of nostalgia as they watch a boy making a new, non-human best friend, if nothing else. As clunky and creaky as it is – and as obvious in trying to tug at heartstrings – some of the movie’s sentiment hits the mark when it’s focusing on this central connection, rather than trying add other distractions. Simple design plays a part, ensuring that the main creature, nicknamed ‘Kreach’, appears endearing rather than intimidating; so does old-fashioned person-and-pet bonding. Alas, the rest of the feature smacks of the powers-that-be thinking that everything else would be as easy, and leaving audiences with their watchable but hardly winning lesson in realising otherwise.
Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5
Monster Trucks
Director: Chris Wedge
USA, 2016, 104 mins
Release date: January 12
Distributor: Paramount
Rated: PG
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