Ann Hathaway plays party girl Gloria who moves back home after her fed-up boyfriend kicks her out of his apartment. This homecoming gets weird after Gloria discovers that she — by matters of pure obscure coincidence— controls a monster terrorizing South Korea.
The wonderful moments of this movie are conceived then birthed from the monsters involved.
There’s the good guy who reveals himself to be truly evil. Like many villains, we at first can’t help but sympathize with this guy’s pain but later hate him when he shows his true self.
We also have the hero who doesn’t necessarily fit the mold of savior to the mankind. Gloria, Anne Hathaway, must confront her existing evils to help her defeat the newly found enemy next door. And the battle couldn’t be more awesome! This confrontation between neighbors pits two common creature feature movie characters, the robot and a monster, in a battle for the Seoul of Korea.
To call this movie ridiculous who be underselling the value of the film. Colassal is a movie about abuse: substance, emotional, and physical. Gloria doesn’t know her true worth until she relents in the struggle to hide her depression. The bonds of her addiction keep her in a monotonous loop of self-destruction. Every time the monster appears is a representation of her weakness to overcome her own demons.
Love, Depression, Evil, all within a monster movie — why the hell not?
A common complaint about the modern day creature feature is that they have too much of a subplot:
A guy searching for his kid.
A woman who’s kid likes to eat too much glue.
Lovers who didn’t know they were in the “friend zone” until they are face to face with a vicious glue gobbling child who threatens to fix the world with a gooey solution.
There should be a less humanization of the creature within the monster movie; but only if the creature isn’t human.
That’s why Colossal works as a great creature feature. The film has the tropes of a cult favorite genre inverted to expose humans and our vulnerability, as the monsters and demons that lurk inside us. Once exposed, these manifestations can wreak havoc on not only our livelihood but innocent people and relationships that we leave for dead in the wake of our struggle to cope.