Little Monsters

If you’re looking for a zombie film with a little more meat on the bone, look elsewhere; however, if you’re after a heartwarming 94 minutes that just so happens to involve zombie decapitation, ‘Little Monsters’ is for you. Best of luck getting 'Shake It Off' out of your head any time soon.

• Ashley Teresa

Read Ashley's full article... https://www.maketheswitch.com.au/article/review-little-monsters-no-brains-all-heart

Consistently funny and very heart-felt, anchored by yet another superb Lupita Nyong'o performance

Zombies weren't the catalyst. The catalyst was my son, and my son's first year of kindergarten, in particular. He has very severe food allergies, the same allergies as the character of Felix. It was a terrifying thing, for me, his first day of school. He had never been out of my care before the first day of school. I was so scared of having to give responsibility for his health responsibilities to someone else. He was so lucky that his kindie teacher was amazing. She really knew what to _do to allay my fears, and not in a perfunctory way. I knew she was actually really taking it seriously, among 24 or 25 other kids. Seeing her manage everything and, in particular, look after my son, and how she opened up the world outside of me to my son, it made me realize how important teachers are. I knew how important teachers are, but kindergarten teachers, in particular, I hadn't really considered that, and to have direct experience of it. I was on a school excursion with her, my son, and 24 of his classmates. We went to a petting zoo, which is where the film is set. It's actually the same petting zoo that we filmed the movie. Something happened on that school excursion where I thought, what if there was a zombie? How would we defend a class of kids from a zombie attack, and how would you stop their minds from being corrupted, as well? That seemed, for me, like a metaphor for zombies, in a fun way, to represent the horrors of the world. Whatever you want those horrors to be, whatever they mean to you, it's easy to look at an instance of a child and the thing that's going to corrupt and destroy them. It was the best way of telling that story and that idea in a fun way, to make them zombies. I never went, "Oh, I want to make my version of a zombie movie." No, it was my son, and everything he's taught me, I can put into something and say it in a way that feels surprising....

Little Monsters was pretty good, but there's one glaring issue I found with it. The funniest bits in the movie (which for a comedy basically reads as: "best") all happen before there's any actual zombies. The establishing of characterisation in the first twenty minutes was more enjoyable than anything that came in the actual "plot". But to say that the opening of a movie was great and the rest of it, merely good, is about the least scathing of a criticism that you can give a movie, so Little Monsters still comes away with a recommendation.

Final rating:★★★ - I liked it. Would personally recommend you give it a go.

Little Monsters is an interesting twist on the tired and overplayed zombie genre that has crowded Hollywood in recent years. How a movie about a zombie invasion threatening kids can have such humor and endearing moments is beyond me, but the film is able to deliver these in an effortless way. Lupita Nyong'o does as excellent job as a kindergarten teacher and really reminds me a lot of my own fiancé as she teaches young children, very believable. Alexander England does a fine job as well; he really plays off from his nephew (Diesel La Torraca) and Nyong'o very well. The pair have good chemistry that builds throughout the film and pays off at the end. Josh Gad is very much what you would expect from him, over the top and annoying. I found his character to take away from a lot of scenes, but it didn't hurt the overall experience too much, just wish they toned him down a bit. The comedy is reminiscent of Kindergarten Cop, some of the humor and jokes hit while others missed entirely. I did really enjoy the constant songs and kid controlling mechanisms that they used throughout the film. It added a subtle spice of dark humor with the backdrop of zombies trying to devour the students. This film doesn't do a lot but what it attempts to do, it does fairly well.

Verdict: Good