Love and Monsters

The likeable Dylan O'Brien embarks on a long journey across America, where mankind has lost the war against giant monsters, and he wants to find his lost girlfriend. Only he's kind of an incompetent dork. Love and Monsters initially looks like a very cheesy rip-off of Zombieland, whose creators had perhaps not a single idea of their own, but somewhere in the middle it breaks and this adventure romance with a bunch of monsters finds its own style and starts to deftly balance between humour, action, romance and more dramatic moments. It's a good watch. Too bad the film doesn't find its own face until so late. The rip-off of Zombieland was almost embarrassing at times. (21.10.2020)

Love and Monsters is an unexpectedly well-received hit in the middle of a blockbuster drought that impresses with its great technical quality and the original design of the monsters, which thankfully are not spared. Admittedly, I'm a little bothered by the fact that the film is PG-13 and there's a too much of romance for my taste, and also Dylan O'Brien plays a scared rather than fighting hero, but those things aside, it is a very entertaining film with a well built world taken over by mutated animals that have driven humans into underground colonies. The film flows along at a decent pace, is playful, colorful, funny, occasionally suspenseful, and with a nice cliffhanger at the end. I'll throw in extra points for the monsters, since they are my weakness, and it's been so long since anything like this has come out. Story****, Action****, Humor***, Violence>No, Entertainment****, Music***, Visuals****, Atmosphere****, Suspense***. 7/10. (19.10.2020)

A funny, relax movie in Zombieland style with monsters instead of living dead. O'Brian is a nice guy and surprisingly frequently starts to act much more seriously, contravening the expected clichés. The monsters are done well and Beltrami’s music is really good. A pleasant surprise. (07.12.2020)

A totally cool movie. A sympathetic protagonist and his even more sympathetic dog, great monsters created by digital and classic special effects (I'll bet that the crab was a tribute to Ray Harryhausen), a pleasant light mood and a bit of tension. It's a fact that the Zombieland inspiration can't be denied, but unlike Zombieland, there is no forced awkwardness, and it doesn't try to convince you every five minutes how cool it is and how much fun you are supposed to be having. (15.04.2021)

I looked forward to it, but, even as a not very ambitious wannabe easygoing flick, it’s incredibly insipid and lacking ideas. What we want from adventure fantasy with monsters (with a potentially unlimited number thereof) is entertainment with the monsters and not this tantalising and slow teenage fairytale that basically doesn’t have a story. There’s absolutely nothing memorable about it, the special effects are poor, the cliffhanger is very weak and the climax is incredibly sloppy. At least the dog and the pair of castaways were good, otherwise it’s terribly boring and the main character couldn’t have been more cookie-cutter. 40% (19.10.2020)

Love and Monsters ist ein entspannender Film mit allem Drum und Dran. Auf den ersten Blick war ich von der postapokalyptischen Thematik fasziniert, die hier treffend mit Zombieland verglichen wird, allerdings mit einer akzeptableren Bewertung. Das Grundgerüst der Geschichte ist recht simpel und bringt nichts Neues in das Genre. Nichtsdestotrotz kommt die Handlung gut voran, regelmäßig durchsetzt mit unschuldiger Action, einigen humorvollen Szenen und mehr als einer offensichtlichen Lektion fürs Leben. Obwohl Dylan O'Brian klopft hier zwar nicht so wilde Sprüche wie in Teen Wolf, ist seine Figur immer noch sympathisch und lustig. Ich habe mich gefreut, eine kleine Rolle für Michael "Yondu" Rooker zu sehen, und überraschenderweise fand ich seine kleine Begleiterin nicht so nervig, wie es bei Kinderhelden normalerweise der Fall ist. Die Monstervisuals hatten einige Reserven, aber für dreißig Millionen ist es eine solide, gut gemachte Arbeit. Wenn der Film ein Erfolg wird, kann ich mir eine Fortsetzung vorstellen. P.S. Am besten war sowieso Boy! (20.10.2020)

If it hadn't been for the final inspirational speech and all those listening to it with faces full of enthusiasm and determination and if the creators hadn’t gotten carried away at times and avoided the melodrama, I would have gladly thrown in an additional star for this to get a full score. Why? Because the creators clearly didn't take themselves too seriously, they weren’t trying to convince me this was Spielberg, and shot a witty action movie that I could enjoy without having to use mathematical tables all the time like with Tenet. (05.04.2021)