Table of Contents

Love and Monsters: A Cheerful Apocalyptic Adventure

Love and Monsters is a 2020 American post-apocalyptic monster adventure film directed by Michael Matthews, with Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen serving as producers. The film stars Dylan O’Brien, Jessica Henwick, Dan Ewing, Michael Rooker, and Ariana Greenblatt.

The film follows Joel Dawson (O’Brien), a young man who lives in an underground bunker with other survivors of the Monsterpocalypse, a global event that unleashed giant creatures that took over the land. Joel reconnects over radio with his high school girlfriend Aimee (Henwick), who is now 80 miles away at a coastal colony. Joel decides to venture out to Aimee, despite all the dangerous monsters that stand in his way. Along his journey, he meets Clyde (Rooker) and Minnow (Greenblatt), two experienced survivors who teach him how to survive in the new world. He also befriends a loyal dog named Boy, who becomes his faithful companion.

Love and Monsters is a fun-filled and action-packed film that blends comedy, romance, and sci-fi elements. The film has been praised for its charming and likable characters, its creative and colorful monster designs, its heartwarming and humorous tone, and its impressive visual effects. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. The film is available to watch on Netflix.

The film has received mostly positive reviews from critics and audiences, who praised its blend of genres, its humor, its heart, and its visual effects. The film has a 94% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 113 reviews, with an average rating of 7.4/10. The website’s critics consensus reads: \”Led by a charming star turn from Dylan O’Brien, Love and Monsters peers into the apocalypse and finds an action-adventure with surprising emotional depth.\” On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 63 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating \”generally favorable reviews\”. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of \”A\” on an A+ to F scale.

Some of the critics’ highlights include Nick Allen of Roger Ebert.com, who gave the film three out of four stars and wrote: \”Dylan O’Brien’s charisma goes the distance in the fleeting, but fun enough apocalypse adventure ‘Love and Monsters,’ which has the actor navigating an obstacle course of convenient twists, unabashedly cute characters, and mega-sized creepy crawlies.\” James Dyer of Empire gave the film four out of five stars and wrote: \”Love And Monsters is a blast, an unassuming, immensely winning monster movie filled with great lo-fi creatures and a likeable cast. As a template for making a leaner, less bloated summer movie, Hollywood could do a lot worse.\” Peter Debruge of Variety called the film \”a clever and engaging enough diversion\” and praised O’Brien’s performance as \”a cross between Jesse Eisenberg’s self-deprecating charm and Tom Cruise’s gung-ho fearlessness.\”