Matchbox the Movie

If this is an example of what David Ellison and Skydance are going to the modern media landscape with the acquisition of Warner Bros, we're in for it.

I was hoping for a semi-aware action comedy. The cast was largely good. Sam Hargrave directing. And the Matchbox brand essentially gave the film creative license to show cool vehicles doing cool stuff.

The film largely suffers from
1. The plot lacks any tension - at no point does any character feel either conflicted or in actual danger. Perhaps that's due to...
2. The film steers (pun intended) into every cliche at every point in both plot and dialogue. There are several points where I found myself lip syncing to the dialogue on my first viewing.
3. Most of the actors didn't understand the assignment.

I say most because John Cena (and on occasion Arturo Castro) did. Cena nailed the right level of dry camp that the script gave him. If his performance wasn't so entertaining, I'd have turned this off 30 minutes in.

I think the film failed to achieve either of the established paths for brand nostalgia films. Either be kid friendly with an adult-accessible message (ala The Lego Movie) or use the brand to create an honest conversation with an adult audience like Barbie.

Trying to turn Matchbox into a meaningful metaphor while being a postmodern action film full of adult references with a story that's clearly aimed at children just left this as a poorer Jumanji reboot.