MY SWEET MONSTER

2022 | DIR: VIKTOR GLUKHUSHIN & MAKSIM VOLKKOV | STARRING: PAULY SHORE, HAYLIE DUFF, JON HEDER | REVIEW BY GLENN COCHRANE.

​MY SWEET MONSTER is an all-new animated feature film from Russia, which comes to us with an English-speaking cast including comedy favourite Pauly Shore (Encino Man), Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite) and Haylie Duff (also Napoleon Dynamite).

If ever there were an appropriate application to the word 'fantasy' this is it. Nothing on the screen makes practical sense, and yet the creators have crammed together an assortment of ideas into a jar, proverbially shaken it up, and spilled the strangely absorbing contents into our laps. Most of the characters dress from the Victorian era, while some get around on 1950's motorcycles, and others use futuristic drone technology. Robots serve on royals like a bizarre steam-punk-inspired fable, and mythical creatures roam the forests. All in the service of a fun family movie.

Princess Barbara (Duff) is tricked into an arranged marriage to an arrogant and evil postal worker named Bundy (Shore), who has cast the king under his spell (yeah, just go with it), and when the wedding is thrust upon her without warning, she leaps onto her horse and rides away into the woods. There she meets up with an odd beast named Boogey (Heder), whose appearance is that of various combined creatures (in other words, he looks like a pre-schooler's drawing of a monster). Think Shrek meets Wreck it Ralph, with a touch of Disney's Beast. He is the King of the Forest and protects all of the creatures within it, and with his help – and a cute bunny named Rabbit – Princess Barabara sets about freeing her father from Bundy's control and reclaiming the kingdom.​

It's all very convoluted and difficult to explain, but for all of its oddities, MY SWEET MONSTER works rather well. It certainly takes many cues from American films, like Shrek and Hoodwinked, but it also has a charm of its own. The characters are unusual, and the crockpot of aesthetics makes for a surreal experience, while the English-speaking cast of voices do a surprisingly good job of it. Pauly Shore invests a lot of energy into bringing the villainous Bundy to life, and he contorts his voice in some weird and wonderful ways.

Perhaps the most charming quality of the movie is the music, of which there is plenty. The songs are catchy, and in stark contrast to the bigger Hollywood animated films, the actors sing with all of their patchy, almost tone-deaf sincerity. Pauly Shore is particularly delightful, applying his trademark 'Weasel' voice to several songs, including a fantastic hip-hop-inspired number called Live Life to the Fullest.

MY SWEET MONSTER may not be a big-budget razzle and dazzle like its Hollywood contemporaries, but it is a sweet and inspired extravaganza of its own, which makes for fun family entertainment during the school holidays.

Now playing in selected cinemas.