Cozy Apocalypse

I think I queued up Love and Monsters (2020) because of another monster movie that was announced around the same time. I'll note that when we watch it, but I'll stick to this one for now. 

We were a little apprehensive going in because we were afraid it was going to be excessively Disneyfied. It turned out to be kind of kid-friendly, but in a nice way.

It stars Dylan O'Brien as a young man who lives in an underground bunker with a small group of survivors. There was a disaster, illustrated in cartoon form, that cause cold-blooded life to mutate into giant monster who killed 95% of the world's population. Seven years later, everyone left lives in underground colonies. With everyone else in his colony paired up, and going on dangerous supply runs, O'Brien is kind of out of place. He tends to freeze in dangerous situations, so the rest of the colony is kind of protective of him. He dreams about when he was in high school - he was on a date the day the disaster happens and is still in love with the girl, Jessica Henwick (Colleen Wing). He has recently gotten in contact with her via radio, and longs to be with her in Jenner, 85 miles away.

When the colony is attacked (and he freezes again), he decides it's time to go for it, and heads out into the world above to find his love. At first it isn't so bad, but he eventually gets attacked by a monster. Fortunately, a dog rescues him and takes him back to a school bus. There O'Brien figures out that the dog's name is Boy, and that his mistress is gone. All the god has left is a red dress that he takes everywhere. When O'Brien leaves, the dog accompanies him. 

The dog helps him survive, but when he falls into a pit of sand gobblers, he can't do much. But a couple of hardcore survivalists can. Michael Rooker and the pre-teen Ariana Greenblatt seem to be doing very well, and they help him hone his survival skills, which are terrible to begin with. One thing they teach him is that some monsters are nice - you can tell by the eyes. But they are heading for the mountains and he is heading for the coast. 

After tripping out from swamp leech bites and losing Boy, he finally gets to Jenner, and meets Henwick. She's a little distracted, because a yacht full of survivors have shown up to take her colony somewhere safe. The captain. Dan Ewing, is a friendly, capable, handsome Australian, and everyone loves him, except O'Brien, who hates him. You can guess what happens.

But you might not guess that Henwick as a maiden in distress can rescue herself, then fight off the whole Australian crew while letting O'Brien take care of their pet monster crab.

This is sort of what you call a cozy apocalypse. There is incredible danger and a huge deathtoll, but our hero does all right. Almost everyone he meets on his journey is kind and generous. He even finds a robot on its last minutes of charge, who shows him a picture of his parents and comforts him. He even gets to like some of the monsters (my favorite trope of "Loving the Alien"). 

All in all, a fun and easy-to-swallow romp, possibly aimed at young teenagers (the 20-something leads seem to be arrested at high-school age). But fun for the whole family. The most frightening thing may have been the town our hero started out from - he lived in Fairfield, which is really 85 miles from Jenner. But we do see a sign for Paradise CA - site of a very real apocalypse.