Girl Vs. Monster (2012) Reviews

• gag me with a spoon

  A_Different_Drummer2015-10-24

  The kindest thing you could say about this mess is that the budget was too low so they had to take shortcuts. Unfortunately if you read the credits you will see that this is a 100% Disney Channel product, so you had one of the greatest and most powerful corporations on the planet behind this film, so you can't merely blame the budget. You can however blame some overpaid Disney exec blueskying with his team, saying something like "Halloween is upcoming and everyone knows we OWN that franchise but ever since High School Musical, we also have a musical franchise, so let's kill two birds with one stone and do both at the same time. Now, where do we go for lunch today?" This kind of thinking led to the creation of the SPORK. Nothing is right here -- the writing, the acting, the special effects, the excessive use of colored smoke, easily one of the worst Disney productions of all time.

• When Olivia discovers their roots

  bkoganbing2013-01-01

  The Magic Kingdom came up short with this made for TV movie designed to showcase the talents of Olivia Holt and Luke Benward. Girl vs. Monster if you're over the age of 12 will have you laughing in all the wrong places. Not that Benward and Holt are bad, in fact they make this somewhat tolerable. Their best moments are in the musical interludes. There should have been more of them. Young Olivia typical teen with strict parents wants to go to a Halloween Party real bad, but she's got a curfew. The parents have reason to worry about her though. Unbeknownst to their daughter, they're professional monster hunters with equipment that the Ghostbusters got rid of of in a garage sale. When some monsters get loose on Halloween that's when Olivia discovers her roots. Now maybe if the folks who made Ghostbusters did this one it might have been a whole lot better. Girl vs. Monster is not the best product out of the Magic Kingdom.

• Doesn't Really Have Any Monsters

  jfgibson732014-08-10

  The pattern I find with a lot of these Disney Channel movies (and shows) is that they usually have a charismatic, talented performer to build around, but the writing is incredibly flimsy. In this case, Olivia Holt's performance wasn't enough to redeem the terrible choices the filmmakers made. Although my elementary age daughter enjoyed it, I had a big problem in that there were almost NO monsters. The title made me think it was going to be like an episode of Buffy with all different kinds of monsters coming at her. Then, the design and costuming of the three villains was so underwhelming that they alone pretty much sucked any interest out for me. Also, you get a lame reworking of Ghostbusters for a story, and some really dismal performances. Sometimes, in spite of these shortcomings, Disney's made for TV movies still somehow turn out to be watchable and fun. I didn't think so this time. It's too bad, because they have some talented kids on their roster, but they don't put nearly as much care into these quickly made productions as they do their theatrical features. These could do better if they really wanted to.

• Pleasing and enjoyable children's horror/comedy fare

  kannibalcorpsegrinder2012-10-16

  Trying to keep a rival from her crush, a teen's attempt to sneak out to a party frees the captured monster spirits collected by her monster-hunter parents and must round them up before they overtake the town during the Halloween party. This here managed to be a pretty enjoyable and entertaining children's horror effort that has a lot going for it. By starting off with all the usual teen drama over the wishful relationship, the friendships between each other and their ability to almost be superheroes by accomplishing anything no matter the situation or solution presented gives this a rather easy integration into the horror scenes, watered-down as they are for such a release format as this one has, that come later on. Those aren't bad, with a creepy graveyard stalking, a rather enjoyable confrontation in the woods between the group and a pretty creepy creature as well as a rousing hunt for the creatures inside the mansion party when they get released and begin wreaking havoc with the guests, only to be saved by another dose of the super-teen lifestyle mentioned earlier. It's also got a lot of good by showcasing the monsters mostly as practical effects instead of CGI only for minimal use, plus it has a lot in the overcoming of your fears which is a good message to spread and does nicely in managing to mix the two genres together nicely. As usual, the comedy's hit-or-miss but it's not enough to hurt it much overall for the lame joke or pratfall doesn't hurt it as much as it could have. Rated Unrated/PG: Mild Violence.

• Don't Watch This... Not Worth Your Time At All

  estradatony182012-10-26

  Okay, I think Disney Channel Original Movies are enjoyable but this has been the worst year for Disney Channel movies. "Let It Shine" was unwatchable, this one is another example, and "Frenemies" was somewhat enjoyable but still not very good but unfortunately the best DCOM of 2012. Olivia Holt is pretty and talented and I like her in "Kickin It" but holy CRAP... why did she have to make this movie at all?. Olivia Holt is decent here as well as Luke Benward (good to see him again since I haven't seen him since "Minutemen"(AWESOME Disney Channel movie) and "Mostly Ghostly"(decently enjoyable movie)) but man he looks different. The acting except for Olivia Holt and Luke Benward which was overall not too bad but nothing spectacular was just HORRENDOUS... it's so bad, cheesy, and puke-worthy that it's not even funny. Good thing this movie didn't release in theaters because it would've been the biggest failure at the box office. Some of the mild sci-fi action was somewhat cool but it's hard to enjoy the film 1000 times more when it has acting that makes you wanna jump off a cliff, humor that is so horrible and so cheesy that you wanna knock yourself into a coma, and a storyline that could have potential to be good but had so many damn wrong things with it. Also, just like most of the Disney Channel movies... there is actually singing like what the hell??? NOT every movie should be singing, singing, singing, just because it's on Disney Channel. :/ It's predictable and they even made a good message about fear so unbelievably sloppy that it tastes like soiled and expired milk. I don't want to be harsh with this film considering the fact it's NOT a movie in theaters and a movie on television but we wanna a fun treat and this was most definitely NOT a fun treat. It's a stupid, predictable, atrocious piece of crap that you need to stay away from. Even though "Frenemies" was mediocre and not all that good, it definitely ain't bad and I rather watch that movie again then this film because at least that film had some kind of enjoyment. Just please everyone reading this review, watch any other Disney Channel Original Movie... just stay away from "Girl Vs. Monster", I'm begging you. :/