Colossal, a modern take on kaiju films starring Anne Hathaway, officially enjoys wide release in the US starting today (4/7/17). Ars was lucky enough to catch the film early at last fall's genre-centric Fantastic Fest 2016, and we're resurfacing our review (which originally ran on 10/1/16) accordingly. Warning: This review contains minor spoilers for Colossal. "Kaiju" refers to a Japanese film genre typically involving giant monsters destroying cities (think Godzilla or Pacific Rim).

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When practical effects ruled the world: VFX legend gets his due in new doc View more stories AUSTIN, Texas—The film Colossal currently doesn't have a publicly-available trailer, let alone a release date. But it aired at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month, sparking hurried whispers of "Anne Hathaway's kaiju movie" among #FilmInternet. Those four words made up all the prior knowledge I had when the title slid into this week's genre-centric Fantastic Fest for its US premiere.

Having seen it, I can now confirm: Anne Hathaway appears in this film, so does a kaiju monster. But pitching Colossal as Hathaway taking the Bryan Cranston role in the most recent Godzilla sells writer/director Nacho Vigalondo's latest work so, so short. Instead, Colossal proves to be an incredibly fun mishmash of well-established genres with two extremely accessible characters at its core. Over the course of 110 minutes, things shift fluidly between rom-com and monster film, dark horror and art-house indie. All the while, Colossal does its best kaiju impression, leaving tropes of each mashed in its path.

Everyone's from a Mainline, USA

Burnt-out online writer Gloria (Anne Hathaway) has been losing the eternal battle with NYC. She drinks too much, works not enough, and may be involved in an emotionally abusive relationship with Tim, a successful suit-type. It all comes to a breaking point after one too many midday, inebriated return trips to their apartment. Tim has Gloria's bags packed and ready for departure.

Gloria only has one option—she moves back home to Mainline. In this Anytown, USA, she can walk down the street and immediately be recognized by a childhood friend, in this case a guy named Oscar (Jason Sudeikis). Oscar eagerly offers Gloria a ride back to wherever she's staying, wanting to know about life in the big city and whatever brings her back to Mainline. Gloria tries to reciprocate, asking about Oscar's folks and the family bar, but it could go better: "Don't you remember? You went to the funeral."

Things appear to be moving squarely along the rom-com path. Down-on-her-luck Gloria moved home against her wishes and runs into the stable hometown friend. Oscar needed a hand running the ol' family bar and suddenly has a ghost from his past show up. She stays at her empty parents' home on a cheap air mattress, but as soon as Oscar sees, he offers her a waitstaff gig and a steady trickle of old furniture.

But Gloria's old ways haven't stopped despite the scenery change. Her alcoholic-tendencies lurk as Oscar and his buddies happily close the bar nightly with after-hours PBRs or Schlitzes. Gloria has the sense to walk herself home from these affairs (also, of course she doesn't have a car). But one evening she doesn't make it... instead falling asleep on a playground park bench near one of the local school's bus stops. Startled to cognizance by kids getting off, she stumbles home, falls asleep, and wakes up to a midday call with Tim.

Right then, things in Colossal stop being rom-com and start getting real—real crazy, interesting, inventive, and engaging, that is.

Kaiju time

Yes, when Gloria wakes up on the floor to chat with Tim in her parents' home, something happened. Overnight, essentially, a giant Groot-looking monster appeared out of thin-air in Seoul and stumbled through its bustling downtown while killing numerous South Koreans in its path. Gloria is shocked, Tim not so much: "That happened, like, nine hours ago," he notes.

Yes, giant monster battles await viewers from there. Groot-ish ends up torturing, apologizing, and then attempting to save Seoul citizens from an equally-kaiju robot over the course of Colossal. But this film in no way qualifies as standard genre fare that fans may know and adore. As Vulture-reviewer Kyle Buchanan put it, "Give me the first 10 minutes of any movie, and I can usually figure out the last 10, since most films follow a predictable three-act path of setup and payoff. Not so, Colossal." (Note, the Groot-monster sits front-and-center in the film's first scene.)

The low-budget kaiju films we all grew up adoring can largely look like vehicles for cool monster design and action in hindsight, not much more. By contrast, Colossal puts care into all the small details and becomes a more rewarding film for it. Really, the inclusion of a monster feels like the only link to Godzilla et al. And like all good genre, the Colossal monsters stand in for something else: Gloria's alcoholism, Oscar's self-hate, denial, jealousy, or maybe even headier things like seemingly harmless activities that truly aren't (see our main characters' love of recreational drinking, drugs, and horseplay) or US-centrism and related ignorance of how we impact others. Beyond connecting the monsters to Gloria and Oscar in some way, Vigalondo doesn't deliver any definitive answers. Instead, he hints at many possibilities and allows the audience to draw its own conclusions.

Colossal's casting smartly builds upon the pre-existing relationship fans have with its two leads. Hathaway comes across as instantly likable despite her character's obvious vices. And Sudeikis does a mean job catching viewers off guard midway through the film, largely due to the actor's built-in charm. The darker chapters here become much more impactful because you had been rooting for two old friends to land in some kind of symbiotic relationship. Instead, the reality is some Colossal moments will genuinely cause stomachs to churn or faces to wince.

Overall cinematography nods to the headlining genre, and several visual sequences give you that grandiose feeling usually reserved for Godzilla emerging from behind skyscrapers. The reveal of young Gloria's origin story, her realization about the present-day kaiju monster via TV news or at the nearby playground, the last act's real monster battle (which takes place in an old pool, not Seoul)—all perfectly frame Hathaway or Sudeikis as onlooker while the camera scales back to a larger, telling picture. (The best visual, however, may be a slight nod to The Matrix as Hathaway dons a long black trenchcoat and slowly walks against traffic to put an end to present chaos.)

Soundtracking veteran Bear McCreary's score is so good it even gets a bizarro-reference within the film. As Oscar and Gloria discuss renovating an unused, delightfully dated Western section of his bar building, she exclaims, "It's like a Wes Anderson movie in here." Oscar has a quick reply: "Well, I wish the music was better then." Immediately, we get a quick montage around town with impeccable song selection from McCreary.

Fantastic Fest

Waytao Shing (Alamo Drafthouse / Fons PR)

Jack Plunkett (Alamo Drafthouse / Fons PR)

"Look what it takes for things to get interesting around here"

Without giving away the plot, Colossal hit all the right notes for me. Some moments cleverly usurp old kaiju tropes (fleeing citizens in Seoul get to be more than distant-land props dying sans repercussion), others make you smile for smart writing (you'll leave wanting to be a regular at a local Korean restaurant and to Google "tea bag astronaut"). The film's likable performances and well-thought execution only add to the charm.

But most surprising of all, the film somehow managed to leave me deep in thought in between the grimaces and smirks. Maybe Gloria, as a low-level journalist unsure about her future, struck a chord. Or perhaps Oscar, who tells Gloria how he begrudgingly followed even her miserly success ("Someone made it out of here and did something special for once"), felt like he could be from my Scranton, Pennsylvania home and not Mainline. The inner-tension between wanting more and appreciating what you have, recognizing your weaknesses and embracing your abilities snuck up on me. Oscar and Gloria's problems, emotions, aspirations, and insecurities all felt real and relatable.

So as the world of Colossal housed its monsters, the film ended up reminding me of the ones that lurk in the real world, too. Luckily, although it may take many twists and turns, our hero shows the way to a happy(ish) ending.

Listing image by Fantastic Fest