Grade: C
The theme of robots who become all-too human has been famously explored in movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Child’s Play. It’s becoming obvious that the post-awards season is creeping in (almost everything that will be nominated has already been released and seen by now) because we have a film like M3gan dropping in theaters today. It will likely sink out of theaters quickly and be forgotten about. I’m not even sure if it will gain momentum as a cult horror classic. Its PG-13 rating means nothing can get too intense or violent. It’s like a low-budget, disposable TV movie. The critic for Roger Ebert’s website drank the Kool-Aid with their 3-star review – saying the movie is ridiculous, knows it, proudly swims in a pool of its ridiculousness, and is a hoot. I agree with the first part.
Gerard Johnstone is a fairly new director who will probably only improve as he gets more experience, bigger budgets, and is able to bring in more well-known actors for his projects. The only one I recognized was Allison Williams, best known as the girlfriend in Get Out. I really liked her in most of that movie, and was disappointed when she turned out not to be a good character. Now, with M3gan, she IS a better character in a bad movie. She plays Gemma, a robotics engineer at a toy company. She becomes her young niece’s legal guardian when the kid’s parents are killed in a car crash on the snowy Colorado mountains. This is the second movie I’ve seen in a row involving an automobile accident where one person comes out remarkably unscathed, but literally all other passengers don’t fare as well.
Cady, the niece, is played as well as can be expected by gifted 11-year-old actress Violet McGraw. She is able to keep on trucking even when the clunky screenplay isn’t doing her any favors, like her sudden late-movie tantrum that kids half her age have usually outgrown by then. Her Aunt Gemma has designed a new doll: M3gan, short for “Model 3 Generative Android,” and obviously pronounced “Megan.” After “pairing” with Cady, M3gan becomes fiercely protective and unwaveringly devoted to her, chillingly saying “I won’t let anything harm you. Ever.” Boy, does she mean it. She stops at nothing. If you are a bully picking on Cady or a next-door neighbor dog who has a tendency to bite – as she says, this is the part where you run.
One wonders just how intimidating a 4-foot doll – likely easily picked up – can be, but we’re not supposed to ask a question like that. The movie has two songs; I truly kid you not. On two occasions, music comes out of nowhere, and M3gan sings to Cady. Since this is otherwise not a musical, I haven’t accepted the parameters that a character will break into song, and I just wonder where the music came from, and if everyone else can hear it.
A statement along the way is being made about how people might become unhealthily addicted to their dolls, toys, and devices, that it takes priority over building relationships with real humans. I wanted that to culminate in an action-free moment in the climax, where Cady (the only one M3gan listens to) makes a simple verbal decision that ends it all. It would have been a poignant narrative payoff, but the movie doesn’t go there. It plays it safe with a mindless fight sequence. After seeing the trailer for months, M3gan was good for one thing: satisfying a curiosity.
Grade: C
Film Reviews by Mark 
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