Monster Island

It's traditional in most movies to have what's called a colour palette, a finite range of colours which sets a mood and makes it easier on the eye, this movie eschews this tradition. Its standard of computer graphics reminds me of old Playstation FMV scenes that played out inbetween the game play, except with ALL THE COLOURS!!

The animation itself isn't that bad, but it has that unsubtle mime-like kind of motion where everyone ducks, shrugs and gesticulates on every syllable whilst the camera floats from point to point in every scene. The voice acting often has that sound like someONE reading from a SCRIPT with no IDEA about the conTEXT or CHARacter, but they can do a funny voice or three so just read it with FEELING!

The story itself is a reasonably well paced paint-by-numbers tale of going on a journey of self discovery, a 'child becomes a man' fantasy adventure, with the monster angle being used as an unsubtle analogy for adolescence, and by the end the currently obligatory single parent learns their lesson and promises to do better, everybody hugs, hearts are warmed with an upbeat pop song and a wink to camera, credits roll.

It's a rainbow coloured cliche, but that won't put off those still young enough to enjoy it.

It certainly only caters for its target audience, though 'Monster Island' has its moments and I'm sure the young generation will like it.

The animation is the weakest part to this though, which isn't a good sign in this genre. It's very low budget, on the same level as the type you'd see in old video games. Some of the static bits are alright, but all the live stuff (weather, effects etc.) look pretty terrible. The most interesting character is Johnny Rose's Norcutt, despite his under-developed motives.

Away from that though, it's an OK film. The voice cast are acceptable, while the humour is probably pretty spot on for those it's aimed for. I will say though, there is one scene which actually did make me chuckle; it involves Jessie J's 'Bang Bang' song playing over it.

All in all a fairly poor film, mainly down to the questionable animation, but I reckon the intended age bracket will somewhat enjoy.

When young Lucas discovers he's not really a human; the news changes your whole world. At a school dance, Lucas discovers he comes from a long line of monsters. Eager to find the rest of his family, he sets out for the island of Calvera. Especially since her first monster transformation happened in front of the most popular kids at school!

So cute, these animations with parents and children (especially big daddy) cute, and bullying portrayed in such a common and sad way... And then the world of little monsters, what a cute thing, delicious to taste with the little ones, very cute and with that moral message to discuss with children... S2.

Lucas is desperate to go to the big Halloween party. After being implicated in a classroom incident, his father grounds him. He sneaks out to the party anyways. The class bully and his girlfriend play a prank on him. The stress turns him into a monster. It turns out that his family are secret monsters and his inhaler has been delivering a medicine blocking his monster-self. His father reveals that they come from Monster Island.

The CG animation is weak from an earlier generation. I actually like the opening premise. I would have liked to see Lucas going back to school and dealing with being a monster in the human world. Monster Island is not as monstrous as I want it to be. This may be fine for preteen kids. Otherwise, there isn't enough for anyone else.

Good animation, likeable characters and it kept my 3yr old quiet for an hour and a half.