LITTLE MONSTERS seems like the sort of children's movie that isn't made much now. Maybe Hollywood comes close with the vulgarity factor but those movies have no real heart at their center's. There's something wholesome to this film when comparing it to today's' shiny plastic but intrinsically devoid contributions masquerading as children's fun. It's not deep or intelligent but LITTLE MONSTERS at least has a nice texture the CGI epics of today don't, and that's what counts for me. There's something distinctive to this juvenile but likable fantasy.
In a striking fade-in the film's protagonist Brian explains in moody voice-over that his family has moved to a different neighborhood, leaving his former friends behind and forcing him to start anew. While his younger brother (really his younger brother, Ben Savage) doesn't have a problem with it, Brian is left to sneak downstairs to devour peanut butter and onion sandwiches and catch late night cable until running into Maurice (Howie Mandell) a professional monster who enters any house he pleases via the netherworld beneath every child's bed. Deducing that Maurice can't be exposed to bright light, Brian quickly uses this leverage to have Maurice showing him the ropes, sneaking into other family's houses and causing all the mischief you swore wasn't your fault when YOU were a tyke. But there's trouble brewing in the monster's dimension as the sinister "Boy", high chieftain of this rickety realm, decides he wants Brian to join his world permanently and goes to extreme lengths to make it happen.
LITTLE MONSTERS delights in scatology and gross-outs like swigs of p*ss & cat food sandwiches, it even has the kids exclaiming "Sh*t" sometimes, something I don't see in today's antiseptic pre-teen movies. It appeals to the mindset of its demographic in other words. The idea of a secret world of labyrinthine staircases, endless nights and mountains of junk food is a seductive one even if it is restricted by the movie's budget. The monsters are just dolled up kids in elaborate Halloween costumes.
Howie Mandel is clearly doing his best Beetle-juice impression here with bratty Fred Savage as the adventurous sixth grader. What really has the strongest impact though is Frank Whaley as Boy, the abomination even the other monsters fear. He's soft spoken and androgynous, coyly appealing to Brian at the climax to come and play with him forever in his fabulous netherworld. Only when the camera pans backwards do we see that his face is literally tacked on like a mask, disguising a hideous interior. The sequences with Boy plumb at something deeper and darker than the rest of the film, a vision of curdled boyhood by way of a child predator. This is the only time the flick transcends its status as enjoyable malarkey into something more unsettling. Boy is too adult to really be like the other monsters so naturally he's the villain. I couldn't help thinking of another powerful man-child barricaded in his never-never land, inviting other children to come join him and be young forever.
In a striking fade-in the film's protagonist Brian explains in moody voice-over that his family has moved to a different neighborhood, leaving his former friends behind and forcing him to start anew. While his younger brother (really his younger brother, Ben Savage) doesn't have a problem with it, Brian is left to sneak downstairs to devour peanut butter and onion sandwiches and catch late night cable until running into Maurice (Howie Mandell) a professional monster who enters any house he pleases via the netherworld beneath every child's bed. Deducing that Maurice can't be exposed to bright light, Brian quickly uses this leverage to have Maurice showing him the ropes, sneaking into other family's houses and causing all the mischief you swore wasn't your fault when YOU were a tyke. But there's trouble brewing in the monster's dimension as the sinister "Boy", high chieftain of this rickety realm, decides he wants Brian to join his world permanently and goes to extreme lengths to make it happen.
LITTLE MONSTERS delights in scatology and gross-outs like swigs of p*ss & cat food sandwiches, it even has the kids exclaiming "Sh*t" sometimes, something I don't see in today's antiseptic pre-teen movies. It appeals to the mindset of its demographic in other words. The idea of a secret world of labyrinthine staircases, endless nights and mountains of junk food is a seductive one even if it is restricted by the movie's budget. The monsters are just dolled up kids in elaborate Halloween costumes.
Howie Mandel is clearly doing his best Beetle-juice impression here with bratty Fred Savage as the adventurous sixth grader. What really has the strongest impact though is Frank Whaley as Boy, the abomination even the other monsters fear. He's soft spoken and androgynous, coyly appealing to Brian at the climax to come and play with him forever in his fabulous netherworld. Only when the camera pans backwards do we see that his face is literally tacked on like a mask, disguising a hideous interior. The sequences with Boy plumb at something deeper and darker than the rest of the film, a vision of curdled boyhood by way of a child predator. This is the only time the flick transcends its status as enjoyable malarkey into something more unsettling. Boy is too adult to really be like the other monsters so naturally he's the villain. I couldn't help thinking of another powerful man-child barricaded in his never-never land, inviting other children to come join him and be young forever.