Monster Trucks

Taking place amid the highly dramatic world of auto salvage yards, Monster Trucks is a misguided coming-of-age adventure with a screenplay that should have been sold for scrap.

Between the middling visual effects and the incoherent story, this bizarre Gremlins-inspired oddity doesn’t have enough adrenaline-fueled action to satisfy kiddos nor enough narrative logic to please adults.

As the film opens, Tripp (Lucas Till) feels like an outsider at his high school, living with his single mom (Amy Ryan) in a modest house while lacking the means to fix his beloved truck to impress a girl. During a late-night trip to the junkyard, Tripp encounters a subterranean creature that apparently was brought to the surface by an oil drilling operation run by an unscrupulous executive (Rob Lowe).

He befriends the monster, which he names Creech, and allows him to wrap his many tentacles around the axels of his old clunker, giving it a supercharged boost. Conveniently, this not only gives Tripp the coolest car in school, but it also allows him to outrun the oil firm’s ruthless henchmen who know that exposing Creech and others of his species could be bad for business.

The film, which marks the live-action debut for director Chris Wedge (Ice Age), has issues with pacing and tone throughout that suggest plenty of tinkering in the script and post-production phases.

The loopy concept in the screenplay by Derek Connolly (Safety Not Guaranteed) tries to appeal to aficionados of the titular vehicles, to kids who might identify with the socially awkward protagonist, and to those whose heartstrings are easily manipulated by bittersweet melodrama. Meanwhile, the stars of the show are the creatures who largely remain hidden.

None of this is given any worthwhile explanation — from the origin of the monsters themselves (and their appetite for petroleum) to their seemingly innate ability to drive jacked-up trucks — which limits the ability to sympathize with the characters and their eventual quest for freedom in the face of corporate greed.

If you buy into the premise, Monster Trucks finds another gear in its faster-paced third act. Yet while undiscerning youngsters might appreciate the simple lessons of ecology and friendship, the uneven result too often seems rebuilt from spare parts.

Rated PG, 104 minutes.