Monster Brawl ~ 2011, Jesse Thomas Cook

Monster Brawl should win an award for having one of the most straight forward and least misleading titles of all time. It’s called Monsters Brawl, that’s what it’s about, that’s what happens, and that’s what you’re going to see.  Monsters, who brawl. The movie has essentially no storyline, just the minimal exposition needed to show us each monster and then to explain that they’ll be brawiling. There’s a ring, two announcers, a ref, and monsters, who brawl… And that’s about it. Presumably, the financial backing for the film was handled by some kind of secret coalition of third graders.  It’s an exercise in simplicity, anything that doesn’t serve the purpose of working toward the brawling of monsters is stripped away and discarded. It’s more than a little juvenile, but you can’t really hold that against it, since you’re watching damn Monster Brawl. Who are you to judge? Plus, it’s well made. The low budget is apparent, but this is easily forgivable because the film doesn’t take itself very seriously. Monster Brawl clearly has one priority, to facilitate the brawling of monsters, and if you aren’t too cynical, you might have fun watching it. It won’t offer much for those demanding of less shallow viewing experiences, the truth is that if you’re willingly watching what basically amounts to Wrestlmania with werewolves and swamp monsters, you’ve sorta waived the right to complain about your movie being goofy. Plus, if it’s a choice between Monster Brawl and whatever Michael Bay abomination is stinking up your local multiplex theater, Monster Brawl is never the wrong choice. On the other hand, having read the description, if Monster Brawl doesn’t sound like something you’d enjoy, you’re probably right.

C+