Get it?! Monsters are inside the trucks! Aren’t they so freakin’ clever?! That’s so terrible it sounds like a four-year-old came up with. Oh, wait…
To start off, Monster Trucks sounded like one of the dumbest ideas Hollywood has to offer us. The premise alone made it sound unreal. Wasn’t rooting for this either as the trailers looked garbage and it’s being released in the heat of trash season known as January. Plus, I knew this was going to be trouble because this was pushed back so many times and in addition, back in September, it was announced that Paramount took a $115 million write-down as it was anticipating it as a box office bomb. That just shows the kind of film that’s to be experienced. So what did you really expect from Monster Trucks?
Looking for any way to get away from the life and town he was born into, Tripp (Lucas Till) builds a monster truck out of bits and pieces of scrapped cars. After an accident at a nearby oil drilling site displays a strange creature with a taste and talent for speed, Tripp may have found the key to getting out of town and a most, a likely friend.
Till was fine but didn’t have anything to work with. And I didn’t believe for a second that he’s in high school. The first time we see him is on the school bus and he’s most definitely the older person on there. I feel sad for him being in this and in the MacGyver reboot. Jane Levy is a talented and beautiful actress. What is she doing in this? Her character has a massive crush on Till and it’s so obvious. She has affections for him and he doesn’t even know. And you know where it’s going so I’ll leave it at that.
The creature itself Creach was fine, I guess. He didn’t exactly annoy me and the CGI wasn’t too bad, in my opinion. Which explains why this cost so much as well as the climax. All he does is drink oil and has the ability to drive.
And this wastes so many talents including Amy Ryan (who literally has two scenes), Barry Pepper, Rob Lowe and Danny Glover.
Was the action supposed to be fun? I didn’t think so. Here, we have some ridiculous sequences I’ve seen in a kids movie in a while. By which I mean when there are car chases happening, I feel like somebody must’ve died while everything’s happening. I don’t think we’re supposed to let that slide. And no, they didn’t get in trouble. This world doesn’t believe in consequences.
This literally tried to be like E.T., the remake of Pete’s Dragon, and Herbie: Fully Loaded. The similarities are endless in this junk. But we all should forget about Herbie: Fully Loaded.
If there were any positives, the direction wasn’t too bad as it was kind of competent at times. And I personally enjoyed Thomas Lennon in this not only because I’m a fan of his, but he had a scene that had me cracking up.
There’s a chance that kids will really like this. But coming from an adult perspective, I wouldn’t let my kids watch this. I would have them watch E.T. like a good parent should.
If this was trying to be a friendly version of Transformers, they failed big time. If you really want to punish your kids for acting up, take them to see the Emoji Movie this summer. Teach them a lesson.
Monster Trucks isn’t enjoyable as a family picture as it’s mediocre and pretty boring all the way around.
Grade: D+
DC's Take 