M3GAN Review

Theatrical review

The problem of the murder robot has been around since Isaac Asimov wrote “I, Robot” in 1950. Some of the most famous killer robots have been Skynet in the “Terminator” franchise, Ash in “Alien,” and of course, Hal in “2001: A Space Odyssey.”  Humanity is equal parts fascinated by and afraid of artificial intelligence. I admit that I share in that fascination and fear, so I was excited to start off this year of movies with Gerard Johnstone’s “M3GAN.”

When Cady (Violet McGraw) loses her parents to a freak accident, her aunt Gemma (Allison Williams) becomes her uneasy guardian. A single woman, devoted to her work at the FUNKI toy corporation, she is unsure how to parent a young orphan. She decides to fast-track the Model 3 Generative Android, or M3GAN (Amie Donald, body, Jenna Davis, voice) to help her take care of her niece. But M3GAN’s promise not to allow any harm to come to Cady turns deadly as she finds more and more threats in every corner. 

This is a really fun movie. I am often skeptical of PG-13 horror because it often feels too safe to actually deliver on the horror, but “M3GAN” walks that line really skillfully. It definitely pushes the edge of the higher rating, and the frights are legitimate, so know your younger viewers if the lower rating has you considering this as a family movie. 

The performances in this are great, particularly the two girls playing M3GAN. The voice work by Davis is spot on, and the way the sound team manipulated her voice as she turns more and more evil is phenomenal and the physical performance by Donald mixed with the CGI touches puts M3GAN firmly in the uncanny valley. Williams gives

another solid performance and McGraw does a wonderful job as a child who is grieving, but who is also enamored with her new best friend. And Ronny Chieng brings his brand of comedy to the role of the toy company CEO that is just a delight every time he’s on the screen.

I was impressed that this movie was able to create characters with some depth while also keeping the humor in the movie sharp. Screenwriter Akela Cooper seemed to have a good sense of her audience and her characters and dialogue show that. She also managed to get in a good message about processing trauma rather than burying it without making the whole thing feel ham-fisted. 

Overall, this feels like a great start to 2023. A lot of media last year dealt with grief and confronting trauma, and if this is any indication, we may be in for a bit more of that this year. We are still recovering from a global pandemic and all of the losses that incurred, so it makes sense that we’re still sorting through that in film. “M3GAN” reminds us that the only escape is going through it, even if the “it” is a titanium doll.

This review was originally published in The Dominion Post on January 8, 2023.