Monster Mia review – kooky kid discovers school of beastly besties in wholesome Halloween fun

In films, twins are usually written as either identical personalities or complete and total opposites, and it’s the latter dynamic that’s at work in this pre-teen animation. One twin is a popular straight-A student heavily invested in fitting in and doing well at ballet, while her sister Mia is a chaotic kook. They both live in Primrose, an appropriately named community that apparently used to be infested with monsters, but can now claim to be proudly monster-free for the last 500 years. The twins’ parents are supportive of their golden child and try their best to understand Mia too, but it is easier for them to praise the kid bringing home the perfect behaviour reports than the one exasperating her teachers with her determination to discover monsters, by hook or by crook.

Scrappy Mia is, naturally, the protagonist of this film, and it’s not too long before she finds herself accidentally enrolled in Rotwood Academy, a school for monsters who would be shocked to discover a human in their midst; from their point of view, humans are brutal, cold-blooded creatures, best avoided, who prefer – ugh! – cupcakes to grave-worms. Mia quickly buddies up with some misfits including a vegan vampire, and the stage is thus set for some Addams Family Lite hijinks, with culture clash comedy highlighting the difference between monster norms and human ways providing much of the humour.

The underlying message that we shouldn’t be scared of difference is swiftly established as the major moral theme and while this is not exactly totally original, it proves distinctive enough to entertain its target audience. The message might be hammered home with all the subtlety of a croquet mallet to the head, but – what the hell – it is at least a wholesome philosophy, wrapped in palatable packaging. The Halloween timing of the release should help it connect enjoyably enough with younger spooky-season thrill-seekers.