Those who grew up in the ’80s, ’90s, and even early 2000s are more than familiar with the family adventure films of the bygone era. There’s not really any other way to describe these movies other than they typically follow a group of young teens as they embark on a larger-than-life adventure. Classic examples of this include The Goonies, The Monster Squad, The Sandlot, and more, and it’s very clear that some or all of those films were an influence on the latest entry in this genre, Monster Summer.

The second feature film to be directed by Wizards of Waverly Place star David Henrie, Monster Summer aims to capture the feel of a ’90s family film. It even comes complete with several icons from the 1990s, including Goodfellas star Lorraine Bracco, The Sandlot star Patrick Renna, and Lethal Weapon star Mel Gibson. The lure of some solid ’90s nostalgia should be good enough bait for a compelling story, but unfortunately, the only thing that Monster Summer reels in is a story that we’ve all heard a hundred times before.

What is ‘Monster Summer’ About?

Monster Summer takes place in the year 1997 in Martha’s Vineyard, California, where a young youth baseball player named Noah (Mason Thames) dreams of becoming a journalist like his late father. In the meantime, he hopes to enjoy a fun summer with his friends, but those plans change when several kids go missing and return with the blankest of personalities (almost as if their very soul was taken from them). Determined to find out why this is happening, Noah enlists the help of his creepy neighbor, Gene “Old Man” Carruthers (Gibson), to crack the case.

The vast majority of Monster Summer’s time is spent with Noah and Gene forming a father-son bond, which is one of the film’s strongest elements. Mason Thames already proved himself as a veritable rising star in the horror genre thanks to his breakout performance in The Black Phone, and his performance here shows he’s more than capable of leading more lighthearted adventures, which is good news for those looking forward to seeing him in the live-action How to Train Your Dragon reboot. Mel Gibson’s performance as Gene is also serviceable, even if the emotional beats that drive his character are fairly rudimentary. That said, Gene’s tragic backstory is a nice change of pace, and one of the few genuinely interesting innovations the film makes.

The camaraderie between Noah and Gene is solid, but there’s also way too much of it. The majority of the film’s second act merely sees Noah and Gene bickering with each other and not really accomplishing anything, all while Noah’s friends shun him despite getting hard evidence that a monster is haunting Martha’s Vineyard. Thankfully, things do pick up in a solid third act, which finally delivers on some entertaining (if not fairly basic) monster action and even an effective jumpscare or two.

‘Monster Summer’ Doesn’t Make a Compelling Use of Its Supporting Cast
Image via Pastime Pictures

Mason Thames is a compelling protagonist, Mel Gibson fits the bill as a grumpy soul with a heart of gold, and even Patrick Renna gets some fun scenes here and there in a role that’s an obvious nod to his character of Ham in The Sandlot. The same can sadly not be said for the rest of the supporting cast. The marketing implies that Noah’s friends, Sammy (Abby James Witherspoon) and Eugene (Julian Lerner) are a big part of the story. Instead, they only serve to mock Noah’s theories about witches up until the very end of the film.

The bigger names attached to the film, namely Lorraine Bracco and Kevin James, fare quite a bit worse. Bracco in particular serves basically no purpose in the story, with her entire arc in the film feeling like a predictable waste of a talented star. Meanwhile, Kevin James plays a typical skeptic character who speaks every line with an unconvincing Southern accent. Overall, the bulk of Monster Summer’s supporting cast seems like they only serve a purpose as suspects and red herrings instead of being fleshed-out characters.

The Writing of ‘Monster Summer’ Is Overwhelmingly Formulaic
Image via Pastime Pictures

Mel Gibson’s character name “Old Man Carruthers” is one of the first of many indications of Monster Summer’s biggest issue – the writing. “Old Man Caruthers” has got to be one of the most generic names for an elderly male character ever conceived. He might as well have been named Cree P. Oldman. Joking aside, the generic nature of Monster Summer’s screenplay and writing cannot be understated. It’s a Frankenstein’s Monster of tropes and clichés from just about all the movies that clearly inspired it, and while the goal might have been to create something new using elements that are familiar, the result is anything but. Everything from the story itself to the dialogue feels so incredibly familiar to the point where it gets almost frustrating.

However, despite replicating the amorphous structure and elements of movies like The Goonies, Monster Summer is also missing the key ingredient that made those types of films timeless classics. Those movies had some grit and grime to them, with their characters’ profane and realistic writing making them feel like authentic people regardless of their fictional circumstances. Even more modern attempts at similar concepts like The Black Phone and Stranger Things understood this, but where they fleshed out their nostalgic settings with unique characters and powerful narratives, Monster Summer is drowning in a sea of generality.

Stranger Things is proof that a throwback monster story like Monster Summer can absolutely work. It just needs to have enough under the hood to set itself apart from the stories it’s throwing back to. Monster Summer simply doesn’t, and the missed opportunity to explore a beloved era of filmmaking uniquely is palpable. Where the films its directly pulling from persevere today as all-time classics, Monster Summer will likely be forgotten by general audiences within the next year.

Monster Summer is now in theaters. Click below for showtimes.

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