Monster Trucks

There is a genre in which The Blob reigns supreme. It is not So Bad It's Good but an offshoot, Likeable Loonies.

This latest entry is perfectly suited. The plot is bonkers, the characters charming and the baddies brutally blunt, which means they draw a line at waterboarding.

Our hero Tripp (Lucas Till) purchased his emotions from the Give-A-Little shopping channel so that when he discovers an oil guzzling giant octopus with a cutesy cartoon face in the scrapyard garage where he works he doesn't go running to the cops but takes pity on the slimy dude and so a friendship of sorts, known locally as Disneyfication and nationally as goofball gobblederock, ensues which eventually incorporates the high school nice girl (Jane Levy), his disabled boss (Danny Glover) and the chemical factory CEO (Rob Lowe) who wants the creature killed and cremated without fuss or publicity.

The monster has its uses. By a miracle of nature, sponsored by Lost For Ideas Inc, Octoplus2 - it is not alone - can power a truck without an engine. This results in a cross country chase like none other.

Till's contribution makes a difference. Where any chiseled hunk-u-like could have played Tripp without getting out of bed Till invests a bit of me time and makes monster bonding feel like tomorrow's Save The Whale.