Dance Monsters

Dance Monsters is yet another in a long line of reality singing and dancing competitions. Hosted by Ashley Roberts, with Ne-Yo, Lele Pons, and Ashey Banjo as the panel of judges, the show has 15 dancers compete to see who will be the "Ultimate Dance Monster", a title that also nets the winner a whopping $250,000. The reason I use monster is because this show, like every other reality competition, has a twist, as the dancers competing are monsters on stage, be it robots, rock monsters, or animals who look like something out of a cartoon. Immediately, this feels like The Masked Singer, which does a similar thing, however, instead of putting the dancers in furry costumes that would be too hot, this show goes the next level and has them in motion capture suits, with the monsters being CGI, as the contestants have one thing in common: they don't have the confidence to dance on stage as themselves.

To be honest, I think this show is okay. Nothing special since it is another reality dance competition, but it is an okay one in my book. The CGI monsters are amazing, with the likes of Marsha, the marshmallow girl, Beti the yeti, Grummy the mummy, Hammer the hammerhead shark, and my personal favorite, Flame the fiery cat. Whoever did the CGI models needs an award, as they are so realistic.

However, what keeps it from being perfect is the fact that it seems not to change up much (while some rounds change things like having the monsters do duet dances, it does not do anything different). Also, each episode ends by cutting just as the final vote is put in, with the elimination being revealed at the start of the next episode (which while frustrating, thankfully, being on a streaming service makes it a bit more tolerable. Imagine if they did this on Fox and we had to wait until the next week's episode to find out who is losing their monster-sona and going home?) But still, it is a neat dance competition, and I would love to see it continue just to see more of the unique monsters they come up with.

The motion capture is visibly janky at many points throughout. The monsters are often weird and not even all that cute? The judges say a lot of odd, cringey things. One time a judge said something that was not funny whatsoever, but the crowd laughed really hard which means they're cutting and moving the audio around deceptively. I'm sure reality/competition shows do this all the time, but they could at least be sneaky about it.

Overall, the show has a nice/cute premise but the follow through is underwhelming. I hope a future iteration of the show, with more articulated facial muscles for the mocap, performs better.

I wanted to like this and was looking forward to the first episode. The concept is fun, and I have to admit I don't really know how they pull off the graphics, so creds to the CGI. (It does make me wonder what the audience is actually seeing that we are not seeing on the final rendition.)

However there are several flaws in the show:

1. Unimaginative "large muppet" costumes that are big, heavy, clunky, and don't render the dance moves properly. It's possible to create a monster character that is slim enough and supple enough to actually dance.

2. The choreography is blase and uninspiring.

3. The dancers really aren't that good. Some may have been backup dancers at one time, but their moves now, some 15 to 20 years later, are not the quality we'd expect in this type of show. Again, the clunky 'monsters' make their poor dance routines even more disappointing.

4. Viewers mention getting tired of the cameras spending as much time on the judges as the dancers and I must agree completely. We're here to see the DANCERS, not the judges.

So all in all, this is a cute concept that flops. I stuck through the first two shows but have no desire to waste time to see "if it gets any better".... because I'm pretty sure it won't.

If they had slim, athletic, top-of-their-game dancers and monsters to match, this might have been a lot more fun. But I've seen better dancers on Instagram, the choreography really needs some work, and the monsters needed to be formed in a manner suited for dancing.

Thumbs up for the concept, two thumbs down for the execution. Wait... that's three thumbs. Well, it is a monster competition...

Love the idea of this show, but the judges definitely fell short and almost made us completely stop watching. There were characters we would have loved to see more of, but instead the judges kept around a couple of one-trick ponies, and even an injured contestant who dropped out the next episode. Seemed like a couple of cheap shots for drama that really weren't needed. Also, please stop cutting to the judges' faces/predictable responses when all we want to see is the contestants dancing during their routines! Would love to see another season and enjoy the diffrent dancers and their unique styles, but swap out the judges or we aren't watching...

It was a very entertaining show, and my 4 year old liked it a lot. My main issue, which has been stated in other reviews, was the judging. Even if you try to base the results on their commentary you will get it wrong. They were just seemingly putting through whoever they thought would attract views. They complain one person didn't do well compared to how they did previously but they kept them and voted off a great dancer anyway. Also, i kind of wish we could see what the audience is seeing. The cgi is clearly added for the show but it takes away from reality. Pretending like these high definition holograms exist ruins it for me.