Monster High: The Movie is a 2022 made for TV musical designed to launch the second reboot of the Mattel fashion doll line Monster High. The film was directed by Todd Holland and stars Miia Harris, Ceci Balagot, and Nayah Damasen as the film’s leading trio, Clawdeen Wolf, Frankie Stein, and Draculaura, respectively. This is a film featuring a queer character and arguably some queer themes, but it is primarily a commercial for Monster High dolls.
A familiarity with Mattel’s history of doll promotion films and the Monster High franchise is important when it comes to understanding this movie. In 2001 Mattel produced the 3D animated film, Barbie in the Nutcracker. It was a direct to VHS release designed to promote the fashion doll line of the same name. The film clearly accomplished its goal as Mattel went on to produce almost 40 more Barbie movies with the most recent release in 2021. Mattel continued this promotional trend for their original Monster High launch, beginning with a series of short webisodes in 2010. Later they released several 3D animated films each promoting a specific Monster High doll line. In 2016 in reaction to several controversies, Mattel rebranded the Monster High franchise, releasing two more 3D animated films which changed the dolls’ canon lore. These changes were poorly received by fans of the series, and the line was cancelled in 2018.
It's important to understand the tropes of these types of films. They are primarily commercials. They include lots of over designed characters and magical costume changes meant to promote the newest fashion doll line to young viewers. They often have short runtimes and outlandish plots. These aren’t high art, but they can be a fun campy experience.
Monster High: The Movie is the triumphant return of classic fashion doll characters and captures this sense of camp perfectly. The songs are cheesy, the acting is over the top, and the costumes are ridiculous. These aren’t flaws. These are features. Ceci Balagot’s performance as Frankie Stein perfectly demonstrates how delightful this film can be. Frankie is a nonbinary student (they/them), the child of Frankenstein, and only fifteen days old. The character is an amalgamation of several body parts from a variety of famous people, including William Shakespeare, Marie Curie, and Albert Einstein. Ceci’s performance truly brings this character to life. His physicality is halfway between a robot and a zombie, stumbling through every scene. Their line delivery is a blend of naivety and sincerity. It’s impossible not to smile anytime Frankie is on screen.
The songs are very simple but catchy and the cast is populated with some great voices. You can watch the Three of Us which was released to promote the film.
This film’s biggest flaw is its budget. It’s clear the creators had a lot of creative ideas, but very little money to back it up. There aren’t many extras, and their costumes are distractingly bad. The costumes for the main cast are better, but they still look like they were bought at Party City. The sets have a lot of nice details but resemble a high school theatre production more than a film set. The film has been confirmed for a sequel, so perhaps they’ll have slightly high budget on for the sequel.
Overall, Monster High: The Movie is a sweet and campy musical film. It’s got a decent soundtrack with catchy songs. The performances are sincere. The messages about friendship and self-acceptance are lovely and the casual non-binary representation is a nice touch. This film won’t change your life, but it might make you smile and sometimes that’s enough. It’s streaming on Paramount+.
Trans Pride Monster High Logo
This pattern is inspired by Frankie Stein. It uses a grid pattern and swaps out the original colors for the colors of the transgender pride flag.
Pattern Notes:
This pattern can be worked with any size crochet hook, any weight yarn, and with any four colors.
Here's the original pattern.
Chain 26. Work on these 26 stitches for 28 rows. Treat each box of the grid as a stitch, substituting your desired colors. Cut yarn when finished and weave in ends.
I remember monster high dolls growing up, but I didn't it would get that much buzz that they would create a movie/musical based on the dolls. The creative and background is amazing with and add your spin to it in the end with knit. This is great work overall.
This is so nostalgic. I remember the plentiful of commercials of monster high when I was younger and although I didn't buy them or play with them I love the call back to a classic toy from our childhood.
Whew the little teaser video you embedded gave me all the sneak peek I needed to appreciate your thorough review!
honestly I loved monster high and I would be the one to make my sister play dolls and this just brings me back to that time. I love the pattern you made for this because it is very nostalgic.
Gotta love campy queer content