Happy Halloween folks! Before you ask where the hell this thing came from, the only way I know of this film was the constant tie-in advertisements promoting Sky Broadband. And because I couldn't be arsed paying to watch in cinemas or Sky Store, I decided to wait and inbetween that time I got into an exchange programme in New York and managed to watch it on US Netflix. Yes, that's why I've been putting my blog off, but believe me when I say that I have more time to review (mostly awful) animated flicks that I'm trying to also segue into crappy live action films with increasingly ludicrous reasons...so can the Wishbone family add a dash of happiness to Halloween, or will they be the family local treat-or-treaters egg and TP?
Story: I want to start by saying the plot's catalyst is possibly the creepiest I've ever seen for any film. What if I told you that it's freaking Dracula wanting to marry the first woman who speaks to him via a phone call and curses her to be her Halloween costume so he can kidnap her to his realm? Now, let's list the obvious plot holes surrounding that. How did he get her number? Does he consider the possibility that she's already married (which she is and with kids)? Why didn't he bother looking for a wife after needlessly brooding for centuries? Who knows because this movie runs on an "it's just for kids" logic where we shouldn't ask questions! If that wasn't bad enough, the plot loses any semblance of structure when the cursed Wishbone family splitting up to learn their predictable arcs, with pacing so slow that the number of times I looked at my watch gave me whiplash. What doesn't help is the tools used to slam into their arcs come out of nowhere and don't have any effect until the inevitable climax. And of course, this all leads up to them realizing the importance of family and working together while trying to defeat Dracula. And no, it's not like The Incredibles where they bring humanity into the stereotypical family unit with fun action sequences and heart because they argue 90% of the time. Oh yeah, and a quick note for the writers: sexually predatory actions in a children's film in light of the Me Too movement is horrendously misguided no matter how much charisma and unfunny sidekicks you give said predator.
Animation: For a low budget movie, the animation is decent, if not bland. The character designs attempt to emulate a mix of Disney and cartoony, but given the under-defined textures and over the top expressions, they can be off-putting to look at (with the extras looking too creepy). Also not helping is the character animation being too cartoony for the more realistic looking humans while looking too restrained during the "action scenes". The backgrounds for the most part are admittedly good, with Brooklyn, the pyramids in Egypt and London scenes surprisingly being well detailed despite their lack of screen time. While it may look nice on the surface, there are quite a few times where, including the lip synching being off (I know it's a German made animated film, but it was supposedly made with the English track), Dracula's lair looking like every generic evil lair and uncomfortable moments where the camera work can make it feel nauseating. Oh yeah, and Frank's farting running gag coming with green gas and stink lines like something out of a Looney Tunes cartoon. I know it seems like I don't have much to say on the animation, it's just that it barely offered me anything that makes it unique.
Characters: Dracula (Jason Isaacs. Yes, really.) is an inconsistent villain where one minute we're supposed to feel sorry for him because of his loneliness and suave demeanour, but then the next root against him when he tries to destroy the world after being rejected by a woman (very unfortunate implications given recent events). While Isaacs' performance gives Dracula some charisma, his predatory actions towards Emma make him lose any form of likeability. And speaking of, Emma (Emily Watson) is just the nagging mum stereotype prone to changing her mind every two minutes encouraging her family to work together before suddenly deciding to leave them for Dracula after stupid arguments she causes because of her complaining. Oh yeah, and she's needlessly horrible to her husband for apparently being a deadbeat. Guess what her arc will be. Fay (Jessica Brown Findlay) is every cliched rebellious teen worried about her appearance and boys while abusing her newfound powers as a mummy. Guess what her arc will be. Max is an irritating little twerp who wants to stand up to his bullies and be alone. Guess what his arc will be. Frank (Nick Frost) is an overtired workaholic who wants to spend time with his family despite his boss threatening termination and has an unfunny running gag involving farting. Guess what his arc will be. Baba Yaga (Catherine Tate) is the witch who Dracula sends to curse the family before quickly turning to the good side after he threatens to destroy the world. Oh yeah, and Celia Imrie appears as Emma's hippie best friend and Imhotep to benefit Fay's mummy arc. Another thing I want to add is the voice acting is terrible. In case the cast didn't indicate part of the problem, what if I told you that they're supposed to be from Brooklyn? And no, they don't say they moved from England because they fly to London and act as if they've never been there before! It's the same problem as Justin and the Knights of Valour: they feel like they did their lines in one take for a bad foreign dub with no direction. With that, it's safe to say the characters really are monstrocities, but not in the way the filmmakers intended.
In a world filled with crap, I can safely say this movie is just a waste of time. Monster Family has nothing to make it funny, unique or interesting. Its story rips off other films with uncomfortable subtext, the animation offers nothing new and the characters are as likeable as finding sugarless candy in your treat or treat bag. I can safely say skip this for Halloween and watch any of Laika's films, The Addams Family, The Munsters or any Tim Burton film. I'm not a horror movie fan, but I'd honestly rather watch one than this because then I'd get some sort of emotional reaction out of it.
Story: 2/10
Animation: 5/10
Characters: 2/10
Overall: 3/10
