Love and Monsters (2020)

**Love and Monsters is so different and lighthearted compared to pretty much any other monster film and makes for a delightfully entertaining movie.** Love and Monsters was a big surprise! Based on the trailers and marketing, I expected a mediocre, straight-to-streaming, forgetful film, but Love and Monsters is a charming comedy with some monsters, action, and romance thrown in. The stark contrast between Dylan O’Brien’s plucky good-hearted, optimistic Joel and the hopeless monster-filled wasteland makes for an entertaining and unique juxtaposition. The storytelling and characters are all fun and lovable. Despite the backdrop of such a desperate world, the movie feels lighthearted. The creature designs were all comical but grotesque and interesting, almost like evil Pokémon. My only real complaint is that the CGI was low-budget and mediocre, but it was clearly the best they could do with what they had. I would love to see more from this world and these characters, but I doubt I will see that wish come true.

"Love and Monsters" starts off as a teen romance interrupted by the apocalypse, but thankfully becomes much more than that and ultimately very entertaining. There is a welcome trend recently in apocalyptic movies (possibly due to the ongoing pandemic) of finding originality vs. defaulting to a zombie plague. Former "Teen Wolf" and "The Maze Runner" star Dylan O'Brien is an affably geeky guy that stumbles into the hero role. The monster scenes balance decent special effects with fun action. I would have liked to see more of the beginning's "life in the bunker" setup as it would likely have given the movie more emotional depth. But overall this is a very enjoyable family-friendly adventure.

Harmless, ok for families.