The Movie: Mail Order Monster
The Director: Paulina Lagudi
The Cast: Madison Horcher, Charisma Carpenter, Josh Hopkins, Emma Rayne Lyle
The Story: A girl seeks help and guidance from a robot monster to cope with the bullies at school and her father's new girlfriend.
The Review:
Paulina Lagudi's debut feature is a bit of an 80's throwback that mixes science fiction with a youthful and intimate family drama. The themes of children dealing with being bullied, loss of loved ones, and fractured families are very current and the exploration of them is more important than ever. Lagudi keeps things kid friendly and family oriented while the robotic monster is much more Spielberg than del Toro so parents don't be afraid to sit down and watch with the whole family.
I really like how Sam, played by Madison Horcher, is a young girl obsessed with science, super heroes, and comic books and a secondary character fails after abandoning her artistic tendencies for the artifices of popularity and adoration. It's very important to see art and science as normal and positive for both boys and girls and not as things meant for outcasts and socially inept individuals.
Mail Order Monster is a really fun, heart warming movie that takes a major step in the right direction when it comes to progressive, accessible story telling that doesn't rely on stereotypes and tired tropes to get its point across.
Mail Order Monster is an official selection of the 2018 Portland Film Festival.
TwoOhSix.com coverage of the 2018 Portland Film Festival.
No comments:
Post a Comment