Love and Monsters

Love and Monsters (2020) is set after an apocalypse with an odd cause: insects and reptiles have grown enormous. Chemicals used to destroy an incoming asteroid fall on cold blooded creatures and scale them up. People retreat into underground shelters. Joel has lived in one for seven years. He lost his girlfriend on the day it happened and learns over the radio that she is in another shelter. He decides to walk a hundred and thirty kilometres. The best idea is Joel's incompetence. He is not a hero; he is frightened, he freezes, he runs. The only thing he learns on the journey is how each creature behaves, and he draws it in a notebook. A dog travels with him and carries most of the film's emotional weight. The creature designs are its strongest element and it was nominated for the visual effects Oscar. The pandemic sent it to streaming instead of cinemas, and that is where it found its audience. The tone is light; despite being an apocalypse film it is not bleak. Dylan O'Brien stars. It runs 109 minutes. Good for: adventure, creature films, and young adult fiction. Less good for: the story is predictable and the sense of danger is kept low.