Monster Trucks: Creature Feature Family Fun in The Same Vein as ET & Monster Squad [Blu-ray Review]

by | Apr 11, 2017

From Paramount and Director Chris Wedge comes the live-action family action sci-fi comedy Monster Trucks! Starring Lucas Till, Jane Levy, Barry Pepper, Rob Lowe, Danny Glover, Thomas Lennon and Frank Whaley, the film hits Blu-ray/DVD today April 11, 2017.

MonsterTrucks_BDComboEmbedment_2DLooking for any way to get away from the life and town he was born into, Tripp (Lucas Till), a high school senior, builds a monster truck from bits and pieces of scrapped cars. After an accident at a nearby oil-drilling site displaces a strange and subterranean creature with a taste and a talent for speed, Tripp may have just found the key to getting out of town with a most unlikely friend.


Review

You know Pacific Rim? Monster Trucks is like that – but it’s the Nickelodeon version and it doesn’t have giant robots using boats as weapons to smack dinosaurs in the face. Monster Trucks kicks off with a greedy oil company (led by Rob Lowe, who is always a great corporate villain) that winds up discovering some tentacled creatures at one of their sites. After they capture two, another gets away and makes it’s way to a scrapyard where it becomes friends with a teenager played by Lucas Till.

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The creature effects are fantastic because on paper these things should be horrifying but the team did a wonderful job making them family friendly as not to scare the ever living hell out of my kids. The main monster – who winds up being called Creech – is so damn cute… There are a couple moments when he turns into something resembling a worm from Tremors, but other than that he’s adorable. Apparently these underground monsters feed on oil and they have these amazing powers that somehow make them able to replace vehicle engines – hence the title of the film. It actually makes more sense when you watch the film as to how a monster could hide inside a big truck and turn it into a creature fuelled mega ride able to scale buildings. It’s silly, fun and it makes for some great action sequences.

Monster Trucks reminded me of classic family films like Goonies, Monster Squad or ET because it was able to mash up an adult sci-fi theme with family friendly content in a way that appeals to both audiences. I had a blast watching it and so did my kids – so I’ll consider that a win. The final action scene was amazing too by the way – that mountaintop chase was a blast.

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Special Features

Surprisingly the features are pretty solid – you’ll get three main ones plus a funny gag reel which I found to be a good time. Seeing how they came up with the monster creation was particularly intriguing because Creech doesn’t look like anything else that’s been done before. It’s a tough job creating an underground tentacled beast that doesn’t make little ones run screaming out of the room. They nailed it.

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  • Who’s Driving the Monster Trucks?
  • The Monster in the Truck
  • Creating the Monster Truck
  • Gag Reel
  • Deleted Scenes
  • Production Diaries

Rating: [star rating=”4″]