by Lisa Hemsley

Created on: August 28, 2010

Max is a troubled boy, he loves to use his imagination but he has a problem which sees him lose control if he cannot get his own way. After a run in with his older sister and then a fight with his Mom, Max runs away.

He runs to a place very far away which sees him travelling on a boat to a magical island where monsters and creatures live. Max meets carol who usually would have eaten him but he decides not to and they become friends. Carol and Max are very similar and soon Max meets the rest of the gang. Max soon declares that he is king and wants to run things his way. The gang let him and they are soon building a special place where only good things happen.

Will Max and the Gang all be able to get on and will Max ever learn to live a life where he cannot get all he wants and go home?

I did have high hopes for this film because I remember it had a lot of hype when it was released in the cinema, but for me it was a let-down. I could not find the meaning of the story and at times I could not follow who was who and what was actually going on, maybe this was me being a little thick or not actually fully concentrating on what was happening. I know the film is based on a famous and popular book but I have not read this and maybe if I had t would have helped me understand it more. Hubby did actually love this film and he completely disagreed with me and my opinion.

Max was played by Max Records and I did think he was good in his role, he came across as a normal boy who loved to use his imagination and just wanted a bit of attention from his family. He worked very well with the creatures and monsters and there was a good interaction between them. The monsters were quite strange looking and the best way for me to describe them would be to compare them the to the gruffalo or the troll which were in Fraggle Rock. Not all of them looked like this and we did have a goat and a bird type creature. They were times when I thought the monsters looked quite scary and might actually frighten smaller children.

The voices which the monsters were given were all very good and helped bring the characters to life. The voices managed to help bring feeling and emotion to the puppets and I felt I was able to get a good insight into them from the way they spoke and this also enabled them to show emotions as the otherwise flat features would not have been ale to do this on there own. Some of the vocals included actors, James Gandolfini, Paul Dano, Catherine O’Hara and Forest Whitaker.

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