Even the title Monster Trucks sounds like a bad joke. It is as if some studio execs made a terrible quip about monster trucks with actual monsters in them, and an idea for a kid-friendly film formed based entirely on a silly pun.

The film stars Lucas Till, who you will recognise as Havok/Alex Summers from the recent X-Men films as a (really old-looking) high school senior who wants to break free of his backward life. He lives with his mother Cindy Coley (Amy Ryan) and her boyfriend Sherriff Rick (Barry Pepper). Talented, he nearly completes his own rusty green Dodge truck while working for a Mr. Weathers (Donald Glover) who runs a junkyard.

One fine evening, in what could have been an opening for a cheesy ‘hack-n-slash’ film, our hero comes across some suspicious activity in the junkyard. After investigating, he is surprised to discover that it is a smelly and hungry blue-skinned monster that looks somewhat like a dolphin with lots of squid-like tentacles. The creature, who Lucas ‘cleverly’ names Creech, squiggles its way into his Dodge truck and soon shows it can function as the vehicle’s engine. Rather conveniently, Creech likes consuming petrol.

Monster Trucks is destined to be the butt of jests on late-night television comedy shows before it eventually lands in the DVD bargain bin

Some questions immediately spring to mind. Why has this creature evolved in this manner to power monster trucks and replicate the complex workings of an engine? Was there a sea of engineless vehicles in its habitat across several generations that were crucial to its survival? Needless to say, Monster Trucks doesn’t have time for such queries.

It does, however, answer where Creech came from. The subterranean creature lived in an underground habitat in close proximity to one of the largest oil reserves in the United States. This habitat was disturbed when greedy oil company Terravex drilled down and disturbed the environment. Here, Creech alongside his oil-loving family broke free of their space and entered the human world. Yes, upon rescue, they too power trucks.

Incidentally, working for Terravex is Lucas’s father Frank Whaley (Wade Coley), who left both Lucas and his mother when our hero was but a child. His characterisation tries to add to the family dynamic of the film.

The special effects of the film are good but do little to lift the film’s dull narrative and direction out of the well. Admittedly, some of the action scenes are interesting, but not enough to be worth the admission fee. Admirably, the film has a strong theme about protecting the environment, which is an important message for a film targeting young minds.

Perhaps the biggest indication that Monster Trucks isn’t a worthy film is the fact that studio Paramount Pictures had already written off the vast majority of its budget as a loss before release, and that its debut was delayed several times to a week where it would have less competition. For the ‘boy and his monster’ film to work, what’s most important is the chemistry between the two, and in Monster Trucks the duo just don’t sizzle.

Rated PG for action, peril, brief scary images and some rude humour

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, January 15th, 2017