As “Stranger Things” ventures toward its final season, which is so delayed that the kids may already have their AARP cards ready, it’s easy to fall into the trap of looking for new content to fill the void. We are talking about pure nostalgia for the soft-hearted children’s features of the 1980s, be it Stephen King adaptations or Spielberg productions like ‘The Goonies.’ “Monster Summer,” the big-hearted but micro-budgeted adventure from child-actor-turned-director David Henrie (he recently played a younger Reagan in the biopic of the same name), does the job well enough, even if it doesn’t do much apart from playing the hits. Henrie previously featured on the cult, Melissa and Joey as her younger brother and he definitely has enough charm to lead this project.
In place of Derry in the 80s, “Summer” opens with Martha’s Vineyard in the mid-90s, where a young Noah (Mason Thames, previously the lead in “The Black Phone”) looks forward to spending summer with his friends, helping his mom (Nora Zehetner) run her B&B, and strolling around in the quiet suburbs on ten-speeds. However, hoping to be a journalist like his father who died long ago, makes things difficult for him (As is the norm with children protagonists in Pixar movies, Spielberg manages to demonstrate the difficulties). The main struggle however, is that the town’s infuriatingly skeptical editor of the newspaper (gorgeously played with Southern whack by Kevin James) completely makes light of all of the scandals Noah tries to break; all while insisting on needing soft stories to lure the tourists. I suppose the term “Amity” is also applicable here, as is the case with the condescending mayor from “Jaws”.
Things soon turn in favor of Noah as he is presented with a much more interesting story with the arrival of Miss Halverson (Lorraine Bracco). The tale revolves around a series of mysterious child disappearances that catch the town’s attention; Mrs. Halverson’s all-black clothing and stringy white hair are the icing on the cake to what screams “secret witch” or “spinster novelist”. Although Noah seems to appear as the former, he surely is left with the suspicion of being the latter.
And when Noah’s closest buddy, Ben (played by Noah Cottrell), becomes a victim of the same jinx going missing, and coming back in a blank state close to catatonia Noah asks his other friends to aid in solving the mystery.
Yeah, these kids do need looking after, and it seems the most qualified to supervise is, go figure, Gene (Mel Gibson), the grumpy and reclusive old neighbor, who just so happens to be a retired detective with a tragic tale of his own involving a missing child. He also played the character of a cranky old man, a typecast that he had become accustomed to, which fits him well in this reluctant father-son role with Thames, and the two slowly learning to trust each other while solving the case (Thames manages to keep up the facade yet again, even if there is very little for him to do other than gawking and cracking wise).
When combining all his different styles with that of Gibson, one can’t help but try to brush off ‘Monster Summer’ as yet another throwaway wacky comedy. And to a degree, it is. From the King-like credits to the Mr. Umpire extended cameo that takes some interesting twists, this show seems to borrow heavily from everything. He can do this type of role while blindfolded, and well, with the dialogues he’s been fed, he kind of has to.
(There is one line that does sound vague and says that one single accusation could ruin a reputation but this was something they had to put in for him.) Still, this looks promising because the same morose, mournful energy that he lent previously to “Signs” and “Mad Max” seems to be present here too which will most likely help in the elevation of this deeply independent production.
The way it looks, and the way it was built to the completion itself gives it a lot of freedom, even regarding the restraining use of effects. The latter part is dependent because at first, the mystery attempts hilarious turns, but they never expect the direction that this slightly terrifying yet bizarre and strange tale is trying to project, and older tots will steer clear of it. Apart from that, kids awaiting the final season of that blockbuster Netflix show will have some fun as it feels like a frustrating adventure without any channeling of effort which in the end is both a curse and blessing. The last season has some baseball struggles that are surrounded by the base drama of the baseball subculture but that is the only hope he has. He might not prey on you and suck you under his spell, but you will accept the amount of 90 minutes that is the license you need.
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