7 years ago, monsters have overrun the earth, created by the radioactive fall-out from a missile attack on a meteor on collision course with earth. Since then, whoever could save themselves from the initial attack has relocated underground in makeshift bunkers or somesuch. Joel (Dylan O'Brien) was one of the lucky ones, but bunker life doesn't agree with him too much. Sure, he likes his bunker mates, and they like him back, but his contributions to his community don't exceed fixing radios and whipping up a good minestrone. And while it seems everybody in the bunker has found a partner, he's on his own, and what makes this especially bitter is that his girlfriend from back when, Aimee (Jessica Henwick), is a mere 80 miles away in another bunker - but with monsters roaming the upper world, 80 miles - and on foot, too - seem to be an unbridgeable gap. Still, Joel decides to try, armed with nothing more than a crossbow and every scrap of courage he can muster - which isn't much. And thus it doesn't take long until he almost becomes food for a giant toad, and is only saved by a dog called Boy who apparently has lost his human only recently, and now attaches himself to Joel on a whim. Joel though is soon enough almost killed in another monster attack where fear paralyzes him, and it's pure luck that drifters Clyde (Michael Rooker) and 8 year old Minnow (Ariana Greenblatt) cross his path and kill his attacker. They take Joel under their wing and teach him basic survival skills, from how to actually shoot a crossbow to tell whether a monster's actually good or evil, to what to eat and what not to. But they soon have to split up again, as they're heading for the mountains to find a safer haven while Aimee's bunker's on the coast. However, Clyde and Minnow's training has given him the ability to make it through the trip - if only just, actually the hunters and gatherer's from Aimee's bunker had to save him at the trip's very last leg. Aimee's bunker though is in a bit of an upheaval, as they've only recently welcomed Cap (Dan Ewing) into their midst, the owner of a big yacht who has promised to take them to an island that's monster-free, so everybody's preparing to break camp. That's good news, but the not so good news is, Aimee doesn't love Joel anymore, in the 7 years apart lots has happened in her life, and her feelings for him, who wasn't part of her life during that time, have just cooled off. But the really bad news is, Cap turns out to not be the do-gooder he has pretended to be but a pirate intent of drugging the folks in Aimee's bunker, stealing their food and then feeding them all to a sea monster he has brought along. But when Joel finds that out, Cap's plot is already in full swing ...

For the most part, Love and Monsters is a nice and quirky piece of fantasy, full of trippy and surreal spots, carried by rather wonderful imagery (helped of course by the beautiful Australian scenery) and pretty well-conceived monsters that show a wealth of imagination beyond what one would come to expect from a typical monster movie. And that the "hero" of the piece defies typical hero conventions and is denied to get the girl in the end makes the film's story all the more appealing. However, the film falls apart a bit in the finale which is just too conventional, too predictable, and really feels like a tacked on happy ending to meet market expectations rather than being worked towards. But even with the ending, it's hard to not feel charmed by at least parts of the movie.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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