There are already countless movies out there involving a boy who befriends an alien/robot/strange creature only to be chased by bad guys/authorities while they attempt to return their new friend back to its home. Monster Trucks is yet another one of these movies, but it’s still an enjoyable enough addition to the genre.
Energy company Terravex are drilling for oil. Big boss man Rob Lowe arrives, slightly miffed at being called to the site in order to deal with a problem that’s cropped up. The drill is now 2 miles underground and they’re about to hit a pocket of water. And, where there’s water, there’s usually life, explain the scientists, keen to explore the find further and delay the drill. Shall we keep on drilling? Just get on with it demands Rob Lowe. You’re wasting time, and time is money etc…
So, when they do hit the pocket of water they discover just what a huge mistake that was. The huge pressure build up fires a number of unidentified creatures up out of the well and also sets off a series of explosions. The crew are able to round up two of the creatures, while the remaining one manages to escape.
Tripp dreams of owning his own truck. When he’s not at school, he works at a local wreckers yard where he is also working on putting together his own truck from spare parts. One night while working alone he comes across the oil guzzling creature that escaped from the drill site. It’s like a giant scary squid, but when Tripp sees it’s cute face enjoying the oily refreshments in the yard, he realises it’s pretty harmless and friendly.
When the bad guys from Terravex show up, Creech (the name Tripp gives his new friend) hides out in the truck that Tripp is building and from there the movie is all about staying out of the way of the bad guys and finding out how to get Creech home.
Tripps school friend Meredith comes along for the ride and they end up on a mission to break out the other two creatures being held captive at Terravex so that they can return them all to their underground home. At the same time they need to evade the Terravex bad guys and stop them from trying to pour poison down the well and killing the other creatures that live down there. It’s an enjoyable, action packed final.
The CGI isn’t always perfect, and the fairly standard plot dips for a while in the middle, but overall this is still a pretty decent family film.
Web developer by day, with a movie and TV watchlist that continues to grow as much as my spare time reduces! My favourite movie is Inception and, despite what everyone says, I do not have a man-crush on Tom Cruise.
