Flying Monkeys

Why do I watch Syfy movies? Simple: I long for the days of Creature Feature and Chiller Theater. Okay, so not much today comes close to "The Killer Shrews." I am also not the first to point that most current CGI does not improve on Ray Harryhausen. That said, there a few Syfy films worth watching. "Sabretooth" is not bad; "Rise of the Zombies" is a pleasant surprise (and way better than Steve Niles "Remains"); the best to my mind, is "Abominable." Now this film about flying monkeys with big appetites actually has a few things going for it. 1) Not a typically predictable plot--after a girl receives a pet that is not what it seems to be; (2)Two Asian ass-kickers who bring the right combination of seriousness and humor; (3) Likable characters--not generic monster food, and; (4)scary monsters. No need to make these flying monkeys Cloverfield-size--this is one film where the CGI works. Better in every way than the useless "Tasmanian Devils." 6/10

Flying Monkeys (2013)

** (out of 4)

The latest from SyFy centers on a father (Vincent Ventresca) who is late to his daughter's (Maika Monroe) graduation so as a make- up gift he buys her a monkey. What he doesn't know is that this monkey is actually a shape shifter that can grow wings as well as grow in size and likes to eat humans. FLYING MONKEYS is pretty much what you'd expect from a movie that shows up on SyFy but I think for the most part it's slightly entertaining and ranks as one of the better things to turn up on the channel at nine o'clock. I know that's not saying too much since there's a lot of bad movies on there but this one here actually works on a few levels. For starters, I thought both Ventresca and Monroe were good in their parts and they certainly helped keep the film interesting and moving along. I thought both of them fit their roles just fine and their performances were certainly better than you normally see in a film like this. The supporting players, while not perfect, were also entertaining in their roles. I can't say the father-daughter subplot was all that great but it's certainly better than what most "B" movies offer up. Another thing that actually works are the CGI monkeys. Yes, the thought of a flying monkey is rather silly but I still thought the special effects were better than most. For starters, unlike so many movies, this one here didn't try to make the monsters bigger than Godzilla (remember the channel's BIGFOOT?) and instead of making them look fake, they actually went the extra mile to make them look realistic or at least as realistic as a flying monkey can be. The CGI wasn't over-the-top nor was it so bad that you couldn't believe what you were watching. First-time director Robert Grasmere has worked on several big films so he's obviously been around talent. I think he actually did a good job considering what the material was. Of course, this is still a SyFy "B" movie so I'd be interesting in seeing what he does from here as well as the cast members.

The acting was terrible, the graphics awful. Really bad film. Wish I'd not wasted my time.

After failing to get to his daughter Joan's high school graduation on time her father decides to make amends by buying her a pet. Unfortunately the monkey he gets is not what it seems; as soon as it gets dark the monkey transforms into a demon-flying monkey which flies off to hunt live prey; largely the unsuspecting inhabitants of Joan's home town of Gale, Kansas. If that wasn't enough if it is shot and wounded it quickly recovers and becomes two creatures! The monkey was smuggled into America on a flight from China where a pair of locals are hunting the creature with ancient weapons; the only things that can actually kill the beasts... will they be able to track the last such creature to Gale before it is too late?

It must be said this film is rather trashy; it is made for TV and distinctly feels like it. That said if you are in the right mood it is rather enjoyable. The idea of the flying monkeys clearly comes from 'The Wizard of Oz' and the film nicely adds a few more references, it is set in Kansas, in a town called Gale, a clear nod to Dorothy Gale and there is even a scarecrow opposite her house. The plot is pretty basic but serves to give plenty of monkey attacks; unfortunately these feel a bit too tame; presumably due to restrictions on what can be put in a TV movie. The acting ranges from good enough to a bit ropey but that doesn't matter too much; nobody went into this expecting award winning performances. On the plus side a lack of swearing and nudity as well as nothing really disturbing means this can be viewed by slightly younger viewers than most horror films. Overall I'd only recommend this to fans of trashy horror.

I'll be honest in saying that I was expecting to hate Flying Monkeys, as with a few exceptions SyFy's movies are terrible. Flying Monkeys is not a great movie, far from it in my view, but you can do with far worse. Admittedly, the dialogue flows poorly and reeks of cheese, the gore is very artificial-looking and trivialises the attacks rather than adding to them and the demon hunters and their subplot felt shoehorned in and like it was just padding out the running time. There also for me seemed to be too much emphasis on anti-gun control, I liked that there was a commentary but at the end of the day it felt overstated. However, while nothing particularly is top-drawer in Flying Monkeys there were assets that did seem better done here than in other SyFy movies.

The movie is shot and edited reasonably competently, and while the CGI effects are not going to win any awards and look a little goofy they are proportioned quite well and at least they don't look like they only took five-ten minutes to make. The attacks are quite nail-biting and inventive, more so than usual actually, and the finale is exciting. The father-daughter relationship is something we have seen many times, but was quite touching here. The story of course is weird with the feel of two or more stories rolled into one, also ones that together don't particularly mesh well so the movie did feel muddled at times, but it is not too predictable and it didn't ever bore me. The music and sound effects fit with the atmosphere quite nicely and don't overbear the drama.

We've seen these type of characters before, but while not all were necessary they weren't annoying. Even Wang had his moments. And who cannot love Skippy, he is very cute though he is equally convincing as a demonic monkey. The direction shows a director with more experience in this genre and one who knows how to keep things moving without it getting too overly-serious or overly-comical. The acting is better than average, Maika Monroe and Vincent Ventresca especially were quite good. Overall, weird but quite entertaining. A great movie it isn't, but I- and coming from someone who dislikes most of SyFy's output intensely - cannot bring myself to hate it. 6/10 Bethany Cox