Monster Run

I enjoyed the daylights out of this movie - I mean, the other reviews aren't really wrong - it's like eating cotton candy. That said, during the pandemic - don't we all need a little cotton candy? And who, I ask, is better at making that than China?

This is, in fact, based on the book by Texan author A. Lee Martinez - and it does seem awfully American in theme in a lot of ways, but the setting and characters feel pretty true to China.

Don't think about it too much - just give it a watch on a day when you need a little pick-me-up.

This is just like the book Monster by A.Lee Martinez , same concept .

Honestly, the monsters have some of the most compelling designs I've seen in a long time; I was reminded of the first time I saw the original Hellboy movie. The dimension loop scene also reminded me heavily of Inception, and I'm not sure I've ever seen something quite like that specific cinematography before.

Over an hour into the movie, my excitement over the design wore off when I realized there was never going to be an actual plot. The entire movie runs on a story that could be completely described in less than a paragraph. Almost no worldbuilding, no character development to be seen ANYWHERE, and nothing in the dialogue that will be worth remembering later.

Honestly, I want people to watch this movie to enjoy the design and support the crew who put their all into making a garbage story look this good. Maybe watch it dubbed in a language you don't speak and turn off the subtitles; it won't affect the quality of the movie to not understand the words.

Or Ghostbusters as some might call it - tried to find the chinese translation for that, but it had certain letters or rather signs that Imdb has issues with and won't allow. But it would only be for fun - one can write about this without that extra note - which I still wanted to share with you.

Having said that, the movie is simple and fun. So you see there is nothing wrong with watching something light and entertaining ... if you know what to expect. And watching this you will know what to expect. CGI is good or at least decent - and the fantasy/mind of the makers seem to have some interesting ideas and concepts. Not all work out - but enough do to make this enjoyable.

Even though it was the typical "girl needs saving, boy needs self-confidence" movie, I enjoyed the monsters and the different take on this type of story. I thought that the monsters were pretty imaginative. Worth a one-time watch, even at 3am. 5.5/10