Halloween Special! Review: Monster High- 13 Wishes · 1:01am Nov 1st, 2013
Happy Halloween, everypony! To celebrate I will be doing the following; watching scary films, including a film about the Disney corporation (After all, what’s scarier than having your childhood deconstructed?) trick or treating, and reviewing… a Monster High film.
I figure in order to do a proper review of the franchise that more or less is the reason for the existence of Equestria Girls, I should immerse myself in one of the franchise’s various forms. I have yet to read the (apparently terrible) YA books from my library, but I DID find the franchise’s first feature-length film showing on Nickelodeon, along with one other TV special but will ignore that for now.
Just a quick overview for people unfamiliar with the franchise; all the characters are monsters/descendents of famous monsters, so you have Frankie Stein, the daughter of-you guessed it- The Frankenstein monster, and she’s the main character it looks like for this particular toyline. You also have her main group of ghouls (Yes, that’s what they call them in the promotional material) Draculaura, a vampire, Clawdeen Wolf, Cleo de Nile (a mummy), her boyfriend Deuce, a gorgon, Ghoulia Yelps, a zombie, and Lagoona… I believe she’s some sort of Salt water monster, which is part of one of the films’s subplots.
Let’s get this over with.
The story is pretty basic; it’s the beginning of the new school year at Monster High, and Clawdeen’s little sister, Howleen is a freshman along with her friend Twyla, who’s the daughter of SlendermanThe Boogieman. Like any awkward freshman girl in a high school film, she wants nothing more than to be popular, or at the very least be given some respect so she can have some form of self worth. Well, she gets her chance when cleaning the school’s attic (as part of detention for a publicity stunt gone wrong) and discovers a MAGIC LAMP! Yes, a magic lamp, which holds a genie that grants not one, not 3, but 13 WISHES! But a word of warning; there is a temptation to use these spells for selfish gain (read; said temptation is in the form of an evil shadow figure but we’ll get to that in a minute) and that the current owner of the lamp must be careful with her wishes. And Howleen actually follows the advice- for about 10 minutes (in running time)
But something Aladdin’s Genie’s teen daughter the Genie forgot to mention is the exixtance of her literal evil “Shadow”, who goes about whispering temptations to the holder of the lamp to get them to use the wishes for herself. This makes the person more greedy and evil, and, somehow, ultimately becoming brainwashed into wishing whatever the Shadow tells them too. Like, say, wishing for a Shadow to become permanent on their human form which only occurs during a thousands-of-years-ual eclipse… which, wouldn’t you know it, is happening in a few days.
Oh, and there are side effects to almost all of the previous selfless wishes too; Lagoona is given the ability to impress her boyfriend’s parents (who are freshwater monsters) by turning into a freshwater monster herself, and basically loses her identity in the process. Abbey Bomitable wins the election for Student Body President- and sucks at the job. And in another (admittedly hilarious) subplot, some guys who attend the school get onto their favorite reality show, “Die Trying” and are constantly forced into deathly games and challenges without escape (“You either win or.. DIE TRYING!!”)
So Frankie and her friends figure out the shadow’s master plan, and with some assistance form the Genie and Slenderman’s daughter, set out to save Howleen- and the rest of the school.
Yakko, Wakko, and Dot: And now you know the plot!
… Where do I begin?
Well, the script itself is pretty predictable, and most of the characters that are focused on here aren’t very interesting. (To me, anyways.) There are a few standouts, like Slendy’s kid, Cleo or Abbey who I really like. Some of the subplots were enjoyable, like the stuff with Lagoona and her boyfriend, and the aforementioned reality show, as well as Cleo beoming “invisible” to everyone at the school and no one recognizes her, so she has these Rarity-esqe breakdowns. This isn’t a musical, unlike EQG, but there is one song towards the end and the music they played in the opening credit sequence- not that I remember them. At least “Help Twilight Win the Crown” was catchy…
The genie and her Shadow has an interesting backstory. And before the opening credits you get to see the two interact with the previous owner of the lamp so we know what the Shadow is capable of, which was an interesting thing to watch. I would have loved to see them interact more in the present day though, but most of the movie is set aside for the main group of ghouls to figures out how to snap Clawdeen (who you hardly see in this film, now that I think about it) out of the temptation. You get your stand “Friendship is Magic Awesome” moral, along with “Be careful what you wish for” and “Appreciate what you have,” as stated by the film’s narrator, Frankie.
Oh, yeah, the movie has Frankie telling the audience the story from after it happens, and opens with her explaining the dynamic with the Genie and her Shadow before moving onto the real story. The problem I have is, while the narration isn’t that bad, there’s a part towards the middle where it kind of.. stops. And then she doesn’t come back until Act 3 whe she’s talking about the climax, and it’s pretty distracting.
And the ultimate fate of the Shadow… You know, I understand some people don’t like what happened to Sunset Shimmer in EQG, but if I didn’t appreciate it before, I do now. Let’s leave it at that, shall we?
So, yes, the film has it’s ups and downs. Do I reccomend it? If you’re already a fan of the franchise, by all means. If not, I’d at least do some research on MH and its characters first, and even then you might not be completely engaged. It’s an easy enough story to follow, a clear set of rules on what’s good and evil, and the characters are… somewhat memorable. It’s just… okay, I guess, IMHO. But it’s a far cry from films like “Garbage Pail Kids” or similarly bad films based on popular kids content, and that’s good enough for me.
And now, some music not part of the Monster High Franchise but might as well be (And are quite catchy, might I add.)
Currently reading: "Ever After High: The Storybook of Legends" by Shannon Hale
EDIT: I confused Clawdeen and Howleen's name a few times during this, so I just fixed it. recently. Sorry about any confusion in regards to the plot
I've never seen the show. Can't say this review made me inclined to try it, either.
My opinion: IT WAS AWESOME. The Apple x Raven relationship kinda made me think of Galinda x Elphaba from Wicked, to be honest.