Little Monsters (1989) review

(5/10)

This one was one I always wanted to watch when I was a child, but after seeing it, I realize that it's really nothing special.

PLOT:Brian (Fred Savage) is just a little kid. His family just moved into a new house and things aren't going so great. Brian's parents are fighting, mysterious pranks are being pulled with no one knowing, and Brian's little brother is waking up at night claiming there's a monster under is bed. Brian doesn't believe him, so they trade rooms for a night. However, Brian traps Maurice (Howie Mandel), a dim-witted but fun prankster of a monster whom he befriends. Maurice and Brian become great friends and make frequent visits from the human world to the monster world. However, things don't seem right in the monster world with Brian there. It's a good plot executed rather decently.



ACTING:The acting in here is pretty good. Fred Savage wasn't spectacular as young Brian, but he got the job done. The best performance in here would have to have been from Howie Mandel as the mischievious Maurice. He really played a good part, though more spontaneous than emotional. The other shiners would be Rick Ducommun as Snik, Daniel Stern as Glen Stevenson, and Frank Whaley as Boy.

SCORE:The score wasn't really anything too special. It was pretty uplifting at times with a few good songs laid throughout.

EFFECTS:The effects in here are pretty neat. The make-up effects for Maurice and the other monsters were fairly realistic, though cheesy. I liked some of the ways they played around with the visual effects. The effects of the moving clothes were pretty cheesy as well, but interesting. The effects for the end battle were pretty cool to me, however.



OTHER CONTENT:This movie was pretty decent. It wasn't anything too special. The effects were something interesting, and Howie Mandel's performance was great, but it can't live on these alone. The movie overall was pretty bland and cheesy, but it had some good moments. I think they could have done a lot more with it.

OVERALL,a neutral movie with a good plot, pretty good acting, nothing special score, and neat but cheesy effects, but the movie itself was pretty bland and cheesy with more unexplored possibilities.