Greater Than Expected

Gloria proves that she's the monster by dancing.

The Netflix DVD had been sitting on the table since last year, so it was high time to deal with it.

The beginning of Colossal (2016) is unbelievable, even laughable. Gloria (Anne Hathaway) returns to her New England hometown after losing her job in New York. A monster appears in Seoul, South Korea and kills hundreds of people.

From news videos Gloria realizes that the monster somehow is her; it duplicates her motions exactly as she walks through the hometown park (she didn't know about the damage she was causing in Seoul). She proves to her friends that she's the monster and swears them to secrecy. And that's only the first half of the movie.

Once the preposterous premise---a small-town girl is connected to a skyscraper-sized monster in Korea---is accepted, the rest of the movie follows believably. One of her friends uses the secret to further his own ends, while Gloria is guilt-wracked over the damage she's been causing.

Despite the title, it's a "little" movie that focuses on the conflicts between these small-town characters and how they have colossal consequences halfway around the world.

Kudos also to writer-director Nacho Vigalondo for not introducing Gloria's secret to government agencies, which would have sidetracked the story. By the movie's end an explanation is provided for Gloria's super-power.

I enjoyed the movie more than expected.