Review: M3gan
When Gemma suddenly becomes the caretaker of her orphaned 8-year-old niece, Cady, Gemma's unsure and unprepared to be a parent. Under intense pressure at work, Gemma decides to pair her M3GAN prototype with Cady in an attempt to resolve both problems-a decision that will have unimaginable consequences
Allison Williams, Jenna Davis, Violet McGraw & Amir Donald.
M3gan is another addition to the ‘doll comes alive’ collection, but this time it takes a rather exciting turn. While the film does follow some of the tropes of one’s that have come before, an approach I greatly enjoyed were the emotional aspect. Adding more layers to the child protagonists, improving over ones such as Chucky.
After losing her parents, Cady is struggling to connect with her Aunt. There she is introduced to the robot, M3gan, that she emotionally connects with instantly. M3gan becomes her coping mechanism for a lot of pain and trauma, while M3gan connects with Cady and becomes her physical protector. It’s this distinction between emotional and physical connection that drives the film, becoming a core theme of the overall film. Especially with young children that have experienced some kind of emotional distress. I think the film achieves this really well for the most part, not substituting comedy for emotion when it’s most needed.
While its emotion is very much present, so is comedy. I found it to be rather funny at times & drove a lot of the film forward even when its pacing started to slow down or lose its footing. It doesn’t take itself entirely seriously and I thought that approach is needed for a film of this concept and absurdity. It’s as memeable on screen, as it has been on social media.
The characters are nothing outlandish & it plays itself safe most the time. Introducing an interesting dynamic between Cady & Gemma in the beginning, but doesn’t entirely wrap itself up as cleanly as I’d liked. Moments & development is rather rushed and would have been more effective with a longer runtime.
The narrative is as simple as it gets & the entertainment value is high. But the closure leaves much to be desired, cutting away without too much resolution and left me rather confused to its intent. Other than to set up a future instalment. Plot threads are often forgotten & for a film not set in stone for a sequel, raises more questions about the world building set up in this one.
Overall, M3gan is as entertaining as a film could get set around this sub genre. Emotion isn’t absent, but neither is the comedy. Without a single lacklustre performance from the entire ensemble. It can be rather slow in the middle & ends with much to be desired. But it stays consistent with its filmmaking, even if it doesn’t push itself further with its concept & potential.
