Shamelessly entertaining and a great add to the monsters universe

Rating: 8/10 (22 June 2017)

As I said, this movie is SHAMELESSLY entertaining and that's exactly what I want from movies like these. Sure, I love a good character arch, plot devices, morals, meanings and twists but I also go to the movies to be entertained!
Amazingly though, this movie does convey heart as well as humour (however dark it may be.) The movie is visually stunning and takes you on an epic adventure with really cool creatures and landscapes added in to, really convey what a different world this island is. It also manages to change our perceptions of certain characters and plot lines as well as subverting certain character archetypes. As well as great performances by all the main and side characters, in that they all had their own little idiosyncrasies and we even get small bits of back story for side characters, so they don't feel like random cannon fodder to be thrown to the monsters.
Saying this, it is a great movie on it's own but manages to craftily put in clues and hints that, once put in conjunction with the post-credits scene does a great job of succinctly making it an addition and one of the building blocks of the Monsters Universe.
As I said though, while this movie does provoke some thought and hit you a little in the feels, it isn't a deep, meaningful exploration of the human psyche, nor is it asking any eternal man vs. beast questions but not every movie has too! It is purely for entertainment purposes and like any good action adventure movie, it'll get your heart pounding and adrenaline up while taking you on a crazy journey.