Love and Monsters

Everyone involved in the making of this movie should be proud. Yes the plot is simple and it's been done many times in this genre and several others, like for instance The road, or The book of Eli or 28 days later... But in this case more like Zombieland if it was rated PG-13. Dylan O'Brien plays Joel, a character much akin to Jesse Eisenberg's "Columbus", a kind of neurotic and unwilling protagonist out of his depth, who is rescued by Michael Rooker (playing Woody Harrelson's "Tallahassee") the grizzled survivalist with the adorable Minnow (Arianna Greenblatt playing Abigail Breslin's "Little Rock") in tow, whilst on a quest to find his love interest Aimee (the lovely Jessica Henwick playing Emma Stone's "Wichita")... Confusing? Not really. It's a post-apocalyptic road trip monster filled action love story movie that is a romp and a riot. It's not often you get to see a movie where even it's weakest link is still holding strong... The dialogue is witty, the scenery is beautiful but appropriate, CGI game is strong most of the time, and cinematography crisp & clear, no lightening cuts and shaky camera. All the cast brought their A-game. Hero and Dodge lent so much emotion to their joint portrayal of "Boy" the dog, they both must be very good boys... and Mavis the robot could almost pass the Turing test. You may have to suspend belief a bit in a couple scenes... But just remember you are watching a movie with giant frogs and snails and it shouldn't be too difficult. For me it's a 7 but a strong one.