If you’ve been following this site, then you would have known that Colossal has already been reviewed on this site. For a deeper analysis, I recommend you read MovieManDan’s earlier review. I won’t be doing a full on review per se but since it is a big film, I thought I’d share some of my thoughts on it. I will say that I liked it more than he did.
I will say that this was definitely one of the most original films I’ve seen in a long time. Hearing about this film, I was definitely intrigued and was curious whether a monster dramedy could work and while it wasn’t perfect, it still worked very well. I also wondered if the monster would be gimmicky but it wasn’t as it was weaved effectively within the story.
The connection between the monsters (yes, there were multiple monsters) and Gloria and Oscar perhaps wasn’t the strongest but it ultimately didn’t matter that much. They were a manifestation of how out of control they were with Gloria being broke and an alcoholic and Oscar was a bitter, jealous man who was in love with Gloria. This truth didn’t come until much later, only revealing bits and pieces at a time. This truth also caused an awkward shift in tone that didn’t quite work. While it got better again by the end but it would have had more of an impact if Gloria and Oscar’s relationship was more developed and done quicker which was one of the few negatives I had with the film.
Of course there was some fun when Gloria learned that she was the monster but things got serious very fast. Gloria’s journey was compelling to watch as we don’t often get to see Anne Hathaway like this. She was a mess and over time began to see the error of her ways as she found out about the damage caused by the monster she was inadvertently controlling and the damage she was inflicting on her own life. Her struggle felt both genuine and real with Hathaway being funny and touching. Oscar was also a monster but he failed to see the error of his ways. Despite the material, Jason Sudeikis was still great at being both charming and menacing. Hathaway and Sudeikis had excellent chemistry, making their flawed characters fun to watch together through the good times and the bad ones.
For a mostly independent film, the special effects were very good, especially the monster designs and how they were brought to life, albeit most of their sightings, except for the last scene, were on video.
Overall, this was an excellent, original film with the unusual but effective combination of human drama and monster movie. While the human side of the story needed more development, the excellent performances by Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudeikis made up for it.
Score: 9/10
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The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.
