Monster Cars

"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 --

Not sure why so many are hating on this one, or basing reviews on what happened before it got to screen.

Took my 4-, 8-, 12-year-olds to see it on Saturday. All three of them enjoyed it, and I did, too. Simple enough story for the kids to understand, with little in the way of violence, profanity, sex to battle through.

Acting was good, as was the CGI. don't go in expecting The Godfather or anything -- but for a family-friendly flick with a good message, this serves its purpose extremely well. The "monsters" are cute enough for the most part and, when they bare their teeth, it's Star Wars-level "scary", if that makes sense.

Overall, check it out.

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!

A young loner discovers a monster in a junkyard and finds he can use it to power his car. Soon he befriends the monster and sets out to help it find it's way home.

Great special effects and some good performances from some likable lead actors makes this an enjoyable movie to watch. Don't expect the plot to hold up to well under strict scrutiny but it is a kids film after all. There are some good positive messages about family and friends with a little bit of a green message too but nothing heavy handed.

The monster is very likable and the film has some funny moments too. Definitely recommended. I know I would have loved this as a kid and would have certainly enjoyed the action scenes in the second half of the movie. I can imagine younger kids of today having fond memories of this movie in the future. I just hope people give the movie a chance.

Starts off by giving little information about some of the core characters. Slowly building up to the first meeting with "creech".

My Kids absolutely loved it, they don't care about CGI, does it look like another, or how hammy some of the acting may be. They wanted to see an fun, entertaining film, and they certainly got that!

In some ways the creature reminded me of "Toothless" from How to Train a Dragon, but that would be down to it being a child.

Overall, the plot was great for a family movie, few minor plot holes, but the kids didn't notice that (nor should they tbh)

Overall, I took the kids knowing what the film was about and what to expect, and it was delivered.