The New Mutants review: The good, the bad, and the ugly
By Mark Lynch
The Good: The Story and character development
The Demon Bear story is the most beloved and well-known New Mutants tale. It only makes sense that this would be the story used in their film debut. The opening scene (that you can see above) will give you hope because it gives us the elements of horror we saw in the trailer and a sense of who and what the story will revolve around. A great way to start things.
As the movie progresses, we get introduced to the characters. Having Rhane save Dani and later show her around the campus lets us know that they’ll be close and tells us who everyone is. It also highlights Rhane’s best attribute: Her compassion. The group therapy session was a nice touch as well. It was a fun way to see everyone’s personality. As the movie continues, you learn more about everyone and get a feeling for who you’ll like and detest.
This writer enjoyed everything about the first 95% of this movie. There were moments where he genuinely smiled at what was going on. There were funny, heartwarming, and heartbreaking parts throughout. The writers developed the cast in a short amount of time and for that, the creative team should be complimented. However, they only had a finite amount of time to work with.