We want more Mama!

Rating: 5/10 (29 March 2013)

Guillermo Del Toro is certainly no small time director. Involved in epics such as 'Hellboy', 'Megamind' and 'Kung Fu Panda', Del Toro has experience in vast amounts of genres and the Spaniard is no stranger to horror with work entailed in 'Julia's Eyes', 'The Orphanage' and 'The Devil's Backbone'. So how does he fair here, collaborating with the Muschietti's over how to produce the anticipated horror 'Mama'.
When a psychologically deranged man murders several of his working colleagues before doing the same to his wife, he whisks his children away with him in the back of his car, driving off in a seething rage. Out of control, he steers off course towards an abandoned cabin in the middle of the woods. Rounding his children inside he prepares to shoot himself - possibly even his children - until a spiritual being intervenes.
Five years later, the children remain missing and their Uncle Lucas (Nikolaj Coaster-Waldau) is determined not to give up the search. However, when he finally finds them with girlfriend Annabel (Jessica Chastain), they may have picked up more than they bargained for.
'Mama' begins excellently, full of mystery and suspense as we are brought together with an intriguing story line. After the early prologue and approximately twenty minutes of foundation building, rhetorical questions develop in your head and shivers begin to tingle up your spine. At this point, Mama (voiced by Jane Moffat) herself is full of mystery; we know so little about her and this is why she is so creepy.
The film begins to fall into decline when it unravels. When you see Mama in her true form - yes it looks a little freaky - but not nearly as scary as before when you didn't know what to expect. This gripe also links to her looking too unrealistic. The CGI is good but looks too out of place in in the film.
Other negatives include the black humour which allows you a breathing space to emit your terror away from yourself. It just gives you that breathing space - if you are so terribly terrified - to remember it is just a movie.
However, my main frustration is the appalling ending which is utterly ridiculous and farcical! Jessica Chastain was superb in her role as the first-time child minder Annabel while Megan Charpentier was equally as good as Victoria - the two main stand-out performances in a decent cast set-up.