The killer doll is a scary movie trope that’s been thoroughly worn out. Between “Child’s Play,” “Annabelle,” Stuart Gordon’s “Dolls” and the entirety of the “Puppet Master” franchise I wasn’t sure there was any gas left in that tank. Blumhouse Productions’ “M3GAN” gives the subgenre a science-fiction twist and a comedic spin that justifies the retread.
Violet McGraw plays Cady, an 11-year-old forced to move in with her aunt Gemma (Allison Williams) after her parents die in a car accident. Gemma is her legal guardian but she’s also a young robotics engineer preoccupied with a looming development deal she’s been preparing for at the toy company where she works. Hoping she can involve Cady in her project to fit in some needed bonding time, she introduces her mourning niece to a prototype of an artificial intelligence, life-sized robot doll that learns to tend to Cady’s emotional and physical well-being. Gemma’s deal moves forward with much enthusiasm from her employers, but things go awry when M3GAN’s ability to learn accelerates beyond what she was previously designed for.
Director Gerard Johnstone caught the attention of genre fans around the globe with his New Zealand horror comedies such as the 2014 cult film “Housebound.” His sensibility, while sheathed here in the context of a Blumhouse pop-horror programmer, comes through with a tight balance between creepy menace and quirky character work. Sketch and web comedians make up much of the supporting cast, and Johnstone allows them to play scenes broadly while McGraw and Williams anchor the emotive core of the story. This allows Amie Donald as the titular character to shift her romance of the robot with the movie’s tonal transitions from sincere thriller to sassy satire.
The near-future tech of this world feels relatable and pragmatic because iPads and Siri home command bots already exist in our daily lives. “Malignant” writer Akela Cooper expands on the late-’80s materialism critique of “Child’s Play.” The commentary then being corporations ability to control the spending habits of adults to keep their kids happy. The messaging here addresses the contemporary problem of adults depending on devices and algorithms to pacify their children instead of sharing their time and values with them.
Much of the subtext plays naturally with the beats of the plot and everything moves along smoothly. The only severe suspension of disbelief comes towards the final act, wherein M3GAN’s ability to control every electronic device around her devolves into “Maximum Overdrive” levels of absurdity. But given the comedic intentions of the screenplay, this point can be easily overlooked.
“M3GAN” is a stylish, high-concept genre exercise that doesn’t feel the need to apologize for its self-referential celebration of formula. The scares are light enough to play for a younger teenage audience and the jokes are clever enough to keep the adults entertained. There’s something relatively simple and pedestrian that holds this production back from modern-classic status, but as a silly sleepover pot-boiler, the film functions adequately.
Grade: B
Cassidy Robinson is a former Idaho State University student with a master’s degree in film studies from Orange County’s Chapman University. He is currently working as a media journalist in Los Angeles, California.
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