Film Review - Little Monsters (2019)

Dave (Alexander England) just won’t let go of the past, his band is all he thinks about and they haven’t been good in years. His only bit of joy is visiting his nephew, Felix (Diesel La Torraca) where he gets to spend time with him to pass on his wisdom of Star Wars and all the dirty words kids aren’t supposed to know. Then one day Dave catches his girlfriend cheating on him and the last bit of his adult life slips away. Until he meets, Miss Caroline (Lupita Nyong’o), Felix’s teacher who he instantly falls for. Thinking he can get closer to her Dave quickly volunteers to help on a school trip to a local petting zoo. However, in a secret government facility a zombie outbreak is soon to become the worst of Dave’s troubles rather than a nephew with allergies and a beautiful woman that he wants to know a lot better.

Little Monsters is a zombie film involving children that takes a lot of inspiration from other romantic comedies – it just adds zombies. Much like the slacker Mr. Schneebly played by Jack Black in School of Rock, Dave’s slacker aesthetic may be all too familiar to audiences and they may also have a good idea where the plot is going as well. However, added to the mixture of this zom rom com is children’s entertainer, Teddy McGiggle (Josh Gad) who as audiences may guess, is not exactly the cheerful, kind hearted children’s favourite as he’d like others to believe. He’s also another character trope that is often found in zombie movies as he’s the character that will screw the rest of the cast over to ensure his survival. Basically, Little Monsters is a strange mixture of genres that works well in parts but as a whole movie it doesn’t really have an audience.

There have been many different kinds of zombie movies over the years from the popular cult comedy Shaun of The Dead to the teenage romance Warm Bodies, so one would think that the zombie movie genre would have run its course. Sadly, it seems that Little Monsters proves the zombie well truly has run dry. While the premise for Little Monsters may look good on paper, the mixture of the cute jokes and the jarring adult language and even more adult jokes don’t mix as well. On the one hand it feels too mature for younger audiences, but also far too cutesy and predictable for horror fans. The main cast all do well in their roles but the script is far too familiar for lovers of the zombie genre and not funny or surprising enough for those who want a warm, family friendly comedy.