The Monster Squad

Variations on Spielberg's ET and especially on Ghostbusters. Just it’s aimed at younger viewers and features characters from monster movies. The pace is pretty good, not all the kids are completely annoying; and it's a pleasant and relaxing family movie. It isn’t much more than a tolerable distillation of something you’ve seen a hundred times before. But, you have to give it them, this is a concoction that works quite well. Still, if you want to see this type of movie, I would recommend watching the phenomenally unbeatable Goonies instead. (23/07/2007)

The 1980s were a golden age of children’s movies that gave their audience exactly what they wanted. It was a time when it was not only still possible to scare children (filmmakers weaned on eighties movies are breaking through the sterility of today), but everyone knew the kids were watching sci-fi and horror movies anyway, particularly the classic flicks from the fifties that were regularly rerun on American television. Accordingly, the new generation of films, of which E.T. was just the beginning, brought forth epic adventures with a touch of the fantastical and supernatural. The Monster Squad was made at a time when most of the now classic titles of the category and their variations were already in existence. As they were able to lean on those existing works, screenwriters Fred Dekker and Shane Black created both a full-fledged contribution to the genre of 1980s family adventure movies and an exaggerated reflection of them. After all, what more could ’80s kids want than to come face to face with popular classic monsters after the movies had already given them encounters with aliens, quests for pirate treasure and young versions of famous heroes. The film’s premise thus marches out a parade of all-star monsters – specifically Dracula, a werewolf, a mummy, the creature from the Black Lagoon and Frankenstein’s monster – connected with a conglomeration of canonical elements such as the hunt for a treasure in the form of a magical amulet, haunted houses, creepy neighbours and disintegrating families, and a secret boys’ club (with a regulation composition of an ardent nerd, a fearful fat kid, a self-confident chatterbox, an older cool guy, a half-pint no one listens to, and a little sister who has them all wrapped around her finger). In the interest of containing as many child-obliging motifs as possible, the narrative is conceived as a chain of loosely connected episodes that play with the usual conventions, and just as the film as a whole frees itself from a strictly fixed narrative, the individual sequences are surprising with their exaggeration and self-reflection (in most such films, the kids have a dog, but no one concerns themselves with how it gets into the treetop clubhouse). As suggested by the intermezzo in the form of mandatory school attendance between the breakneck adventures, the children’s world is conceived here as a place of absolute freedom, which inevitably seeps into those parts of the day when adults try to restrict it. Accordingly, the main strength of The Monster Squad is that it does not restrain itself with a rational point of view, but instead throws its viewers into a whirlwind of attractions that will put an enthusiastic, childlike smile even on the faces of adults who haven’t yet become completely jaded. (04/05/2014)

This film certainly doesn't offend, but nor does it stand out from the grey of the average. The unambitious and frivolous premise of a group of children fighting against legendary monsters is greatly elevated by the visual effects and the pace of the story that guarantee the viewer some entertainment. It's definitely aimed more at a younger audience, although you might want to cover your children's eyes during one (particularly good) moment. 55% (30/10/2011)

A pleasant family movie where a group of children believes in monsters, especially the ones from movies. They actually enter the world of the living and, under Dracula's guidance, want to cause some serious damage. The script is funny in places and it's entertaining to watch, so the movie goes by quickly. (08/06/2016)