MONSTER RUN (2020)

MONSTER RUN (2020)

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(Action, Fantasy, Monsters on the Loose) [PG-13]

Note: This movie did not get an MPAA rating, but I am pretty sure if it had been given a rating it would be an [PG-13]. This movie was also released under the name MR. MONSTER, which is a pretty bad title, but MONSTER RUN really isn’t that much better. MONSTER HUNTER was clearly already taken. 

So when we start looking at 2020, it was just a ridiculously rough year for films. Even though we got some stuff that got principal photography done in 2019, a lot of studios were hampered by pandemic restrictions, etc. trying to get post-production stuff done, reshoots, etc. It was pretty bonkers. Anyway, somewhere in that mix this thing came out based on the book "Monsters" by A. Lee Martinez.

Unlike in GHOSTBUSTERS, not just anyone can see the monsters in this movie. You have to have a special ability for it called belief or really just imagination. It doesn’t take long before Ji Mo is basically shunned by most of society (including her mom) because she sees monsters. She even gets sent to an institution because of it. After lying her way out, she is allowed to get a job at a supermarket but after a crazy incident with a monster hunter named Meng and his living origami side-kick named “Paper”, she discovers that she isn’t alone. Monsters are very real and she is a key to the get gate between our world and theirs.  

In spite of what others are saying I actually thought the plot here was pretty awesome, but the execution was lacking. We get a small introduction to the other hunters, but the focus is so much on Meng and Ji Mo that it makes the movie feel like it had a smaller scope than the final act implies. This is both good and bad. The good is that it allows us to care about both Meng and Ji Mo, but it also hinders the film in the sense that it feels like a very local problem should everything just go to heck. 

Performance wise Jessie Li is really good in this as Ji Mo. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one that noticed she can carry a film, she has been in 4 movies and a TV show since 2020. She plays a teen in this but was 28 when the movie was shot. This is also a solid outing for Shawn Yue who plays Meng. I am not familiar with his other work, but this was the last movie he’s been in since 2020. Tumen was also pretty good in the short amount of screen time he got as Uncle Ping. He sadly passed away in 2021. Then rounding out the main cast we get Kara Wai who is unfortunately not convincing in this role. This doesn’t mean she isn’t a good actress though, she has been in over 180 movies and TV shows and has been acting since 1977. 

What really works in this movie are some of the awesome action sequences and the really fun monster designs. I also did get attached to the characters, but the movie does not set up for any future installments. ”Paper” is one of the most awesome characters I have seen in quite a while. He’s literally a living piece of paper that folds himself into different things. So the ideas we get are great. This wasn’t trying to drown us in pretentious dialog or super deep meaning it’s a popcorn flick in every sense of the word. As such it’s a blast for the most part. 

Where this thing drops the ball a bit is in some of the wonky editing. Slow motion where it doesn’t need to be – weird visuals that kind of overdo it in some sequences. It’s pretty bonkers and that doesn’t always work. We also never really get a motive as to what the villain’s goal is. They do explain the gate and the monster dimension and all that, but yeah, it feels like some exposition was in order and instead we got a goofy song about Meng and his brother. It seems like there were just a few wasted opportunities. 

None of the negatives were enough for me not to have a lot of fun with this thing. So I give it a solid 5 out of 7. I should give you guys a heads-up that I don’t think there is a dubbed version of this out there so it’s going to be a lot of subtitles. If that isn’t for you, then this might be something you skip.

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