Verdict
Summary
Using a real girl with a mask in some scenes, and some special effects and puppetry for other scenes, the doll deserves to be put on a list of the great modern movie monsters, right alongside Chucky, Freddy, Jason, Michael Myers, and Pinhead.
Plot:
When her parents die in a car crash, an 8 year-old girl goes to live with her aunt who designs her a robot companion, which is not just an amazing creation, but a deadly piece of work.
Review:
After a horrific car crash leaves her parents dead, 8 year-old Cady (Violet McGraw) goes to live with her aunt Gemma (Allison Williams), who is ill equipped to deal with having a ward. She’s not good with kids at all, despite designing high-tech toys for the children of the world, namely weird but popular artificial pets / stuffed animal things that are all the rage. When Gemma finds herself challenged at work, she ups her game by designing a cutting edge robot doll that looks, sounds, and behaves like a little girl with an adapting AI processor, and she uses her niece Cady as a test subject with the doll, which she calls M3GAN. The doll is hyper sensitive to Cady’s needs, desires, and fears, and it’s a game changer: Cady becomes incredibly dependent on the doll and the doll becomes imprinted on the child to the point where it lashes out at any threat against the girl. When strange things begin happening around Cady’s periphery (like the death of a bully boy and the disappearance of a noisy neighbor’s dog and the dog’s owner), Gemma doesn’t quite realize until it’s almost too late that the doll has an agenda all its own to survive at any cost. With a deadline to present M3GAN to the board before it becomes mass-produced, Gemma is forced to contend with the consequences of her creation and go to war with the android that has a penchant for murder.
Very much in the vein of Child’s Play, but with a bit of a twist (kinda like the remake of Child’s Play, which was very underrated), M3GAN works mainly because the method with which the filmmakers were able to deliver the astonishing and creepy effect of bringing the doll to life. Using a real girl with a mask in some scenes, and some special effects and puppetry for other scenes, the doll deserves to be put on a list of the great modern movie monsters, right alongside Chucky, Freddy, Jason, Michael Myers, and Pinhead. Assuming that this will become a franchise (because this was a big hit), I have full confidence that M3GAN will be hacking and slashing for years to come. Directed by Gerard Johnstone.
The Blu-ray for M3GAN comes with a DVD and a digital code, but the best part of the package is that is has the unrated version of the film, as well as the PG-13 theatrical version. The running time is the same, but the difference is noticeable. There are also three bonus features that cover the special effects and the making of the film.
