M3GAN (2023)

I think M3GAN was a victim of its own ad campaign.  It tried to target a TikTok audience, and though teens and pre-teens do make a good part of that site's audience, the truth is Generation Z is starting to head into the latter half of their 20s.  The generation coming up behind them, whatever the media is going to call them when Boomers start complaining, really has no economic power at this time.  While I have always been that person that would agree to take my kid to an R-rated horror film if I had one to take, I'm different from a lot of parents in that I grew up watching such movies whether my parents liked it or not. 

Thus, M3GAN, meant to be another of Blumhouse's long run of low-budget horror films which seem to turn a profit no matter the quality, was whittled down to a PG-13 for theatrical release.  Co-writer James Wan claimed that it made the movie more effective, but I think he was trying to convince himself more than the audience who already knew better before even seeing the movie.  Cutting unnecessary subplots and long periods of time where nothing happens always make a movie better but, unless the effects simply don't work or ruin the tone, censoring rarely makes anything better.  

Gemma (Allison Williams) is a robotics and AI expert who is working for a toy company called Funki.  While her boss David (Ronnie Chieng) wants her to figure out a way to make their current adaptable AI toys, PurrPetual Pets, cheaper due to the competition making knockoffs, her true passion is to design a robotic companion.  When her sister and brother-in-law are killed in an automobile accident her niece Cady (Violet McGraw) comes to live with her.  Initially the going is rough until Cady shows interest in Gemma's early robotics work.

As a result M3GAN (Amie Donald) is successfully brought to life and it seems, at first, that she is the best companion for Cady.  Gemma, busy with her work, also designs M3GAN as a surrogate parent, much to the concern of their child therapist Lydia (Amy Usherwood).  When instructed to defend and protect Cady no matter what M3GAN takes the instructions literally and, as she adapts further and nears sentience, she takes her job seriously.  Unfortunately, protecting Cady from harm, to M3GAN, means any method is justified, as is protecting her own existence. 

I saw the unrated version of M3GAN, not the PG-13 version, but from what I have heard a big problem was that the cuts were too noticeable and rough, taking away from the enjoyment of the film.  Peacock, to their credit, restored the movie to the way it originally was.  There is still a bit of a problem with Lydia suddenly disappearing near the end, but it's something I didn't notice until I saw it mentioned in a review since she isn't that key of a character anyway.  She's the usual busy-body social worker in movies that is always trying to find an excuse to snatch the child away from their guardian. 

At least in its unrated form it works well.  It doesn't get heavily into the science of AI, but just states early on that Gemma knows what she's doing so the audience will buy it.  It's not the science that matters, but the fact that it's a modern adaptation of Frankenstein with a message thrown in about letting devices become surrogate parents.  The warning used to be about putting a child in front of the TV, and now it's about how much time they should be allowed on a computer or iPhone.  Technology has changed but the dilemma on how to keep a kid out of the way so work can be done hasn't.  Though M3GAN has a type of sentience, she is still the equivalent of leaving a kid unsupervised on the internet, just without the porn and the pervs.  

There are some typical horror elements toward the end of the movie, where it begins to feel a little bit more like Child's Play or The Terminator.  I don't fault it for that since M3GAN doesn't promise to be anything significantly more than what it is, which is an entertaining film with some violence at the end.  I know some people do not like the character of Cady, but Violet McGraw is convincing as a child who has not had a chance to truly process what has happened.  Allison Williams as Gemma reminds me about how I would be if suddenly having to take care of a child after being wrapped up in my own life after all these years, except that I would probably have the foresight to buy them a whole bunch of toys so that they aren't as tempted to mess with my stuff.  I'll admit I cringed when a boxed toy got opened - that affected me more than any of the killings in the movie, particularly because at least two of the humans weren't a big loss. 

This was quite an enjoyable movie and, honestly, if a sequel is made I hope everyone remembers not to try to butcher it the next time. There would be no need to get terribly nasty, but even in its unrated form I would have had no trouble letting a kid around Cady's age watch it if they wanted to and were the type that could understand it was all make-believe.  There is nothing really scary here, and in fact a lot of it is intentionally funny.  

M3GAN (2023)

Time: 112 minutes

Starring: Allison Williams, Violet McGraw, Amie Donald

Director: Gerald Johnstone