With Jason Blum producing and James Wan writing I had high hopes for M3GAN but was left feeling a little underwhelmed by the end of it. We've seen it all before of course where people fight for their lives at the hands of technology going wrong (Westworld, Jurassic Park) and a toy doll creating havoc by turning evil and going on the rampage (Chucky). Here we get the two combined which works really well at first but doesn't really shift up a gear from the initial idea.
M3GAN is an advanced robot like doll programmed to protect children and be their friend. The designer of the doll Gemma unexpectedly inherits her recently orphaned niece Cady who, after developing a positive relationship with M3GAN, sees huge potential with her employer Funki toys to get the robot to market. However in a rush to get the original but untested doll out to the general public things soon begin to unravel as M3GAN shows signs of malfunctioning and having a mind of her own which turns out to be more than a glitch.
With a combination of physical effects, puppetry and CGI we get an intriguing life-like robot, complete with a sulky know-it-all Millennial inspired attitude, that also achieves a Chucky-like creep factor while delivering a few jump scares and moments of gore that is kept to a minimum. M3GAN would have worked better if the filmmakers hadn't held back as it looks like they filmed a more restrained script to get that PG-13 rating for a wider audience at the expense of some real terror and a more complex story.
Having said that it is thoroughly entertaining with some funny moments, especially where M3GAN bursts into song which just adds to the oddness of the character, and it's a nice twist on the killer doll sub-genre. You are always drawn to the robot whenever she appears on screen so it definitely has potential, let's hope the sequel M3GAN 2.0 can build on this solid foundation and explore the premise much further.
M3GAN is an advanced robot like doll programmed to protect children and be their friend. The designer of the doll Gemma unexpectedly inherits her recently orphaned niece Cady who, after developing a positive relationship with M3GAN, sees huge potential with her employer Funki toys to get the robot to market. However in a rush to get the original but untested doll out to the general public things soon begin to unravel as M3GAN shows signs of malfunctioning and having a mind of her own which turns out to be more than a glitch.
With a combination of physical effects, puppetry and CGI we get an intriguing life-like robot, complete with a sulky know-it-all Millennial inspired attitude, that also achieves a Chucky-like creep factor while delivering a few jump scares and moments of gore that is kept to a minimum. M3GAN would have worked better if the filmmakers hadn't held back as it looks like they filmed a more restrained script to get that PG-13 rating for a wider audience at the expense of some real terror and a more complex story.
Having said that it is thoroughly entertaining with some funny moments, especially where M3GAN bursts into song which just adds to the oddness of the character, and it's a nice twist on the killer doll sub-genre. You are always drawn to the robot whenever she appears on screen so it definitely has potential, let's hope the sequel M3GAN 2.0 can build on this solid foundation and explore the premise much further.