2.5/5
Review by Michele E. Hawkins.
It’s the summer holidays — the perfect time for teenagers Noah (Mason Thames), an aspiring journalist; Ben (Noah Cottrell), an aspiring pro-footballer; Eugene (Julian Lerner); and Sammy (Abby James Witherspoon) to dream of their futures, play baseball, enjoy beach parties, and relish the thrills of spying on the scarily mysterious recluse Gene Carruthers (Mel Gibson), whoever he really is. Life has promise — until the night that Eugene goes swimming with Ellie Evans (Lilah Pate), the girl of a number of boys’ dreams.
Something evil has come to the teenagers’ island home, but the authorities aren’t listening to teenagers who believe in supernatural forces. So it’s up to Noah and his friends to do something, to discover what’s really going on and who’s doing it. But camaraderie and pledges of “being in it together” vanish when Ben and Sammy find themselves overwhelmed by a combination of parental pressure and the risks they perceive in Noah’s determination to ferret out the truth. Finding himself abandoned by his friends, Noah determines to go it alone. Well, perhaps he won’t have to go it entirely alone: he may be able to convince ex-detective Gene Carruthers, who clearly harbours secrets, to help.
There are some good performances in Monster Summer — from Mason Thames as Noah, and, unsurprisingly, from Mel Gibson as the retired detective who has spent a career hunting human monsters — and pre-teens may find some moments scary. There are also other aspects that would delight pre-teens, such as the treehouse the gang inhabits, the way they ride everywhere at breakneck speeds, the special feel of life on an island with its beaches and ocean swims, and the way nature can turn from being venues for fun and adventure into places where terror lurks.
Monster Summer may be a good choice for those young people who are easily scared rather than those who are used to heavier-hitting fear-inducing fare. With significant plot holes, some unwieldy dialogue and contrived emotional angst, and several points at which insignificant events mark turns in the plot, Monster Summer may let adults enjoy their children’s engagement more than they do the film itself. Still, for those on the verge of absorbing more-complex, scarier films, Monster Summer is a reasonable offering.