Little Monsters is a fun film for kids. Brian Stevenson (Fred Savage) seems to be getting blamed for everything these days. Leaving his bike out behind his dad's car. Making a mess out of the ice cream. But Brian insists that it isn't his fault.
One night, Brian discovers the cause to all his problems is a monster named Maurice (Howie Mandell), and shows Brian that under every kids bed, is the entrance to the underworld of childish monsters. And for Brian, it's the coolest thing and an excellent escape from his problems in the real world. It's great. There's no adult supervision. They can do whatever they want, whenever. And, the funniest part, is that Brian gets to join Maurice creating monster mischief to get little kids in trouble (peanut butter on the phone, seran wrap on the toilet seat, etc). It's a whole lot of fun for kids tired of rules.
But the monster life isn't all the treat it's cracked up to be. In the first place, there's an ugly looking fat monster who torments the monster kids that don't obey him. Maurice and his new friends have to destroy the evil monsters who have kidnapped Brian's little brother, Eric (played by Fred Savage's brother, Ben). And, Brian, Maurice, and some of their friends, have to get Eric back before they get stuck in the monster world forever. If they do, they'll turn into monsters too.
This is a great, creative kids movie, exploring the idea of monster life under the bed long before Monster's Inc. I still enjoy the sequence of Brian setting up his room to trap the monster and also the sequence where Brian and Maurice go around the neighboorhood to cause mischief and get the kids in trouble. And, despite it's age, I don't even think it's a dated adventure movie. Unfortuantely, it was also one of those movies where young Ben Savage was still the cute little kid that made you ignore the fact that he couldn't act.
