M3gan - Nostalgia Critic

The robot girl went viral and turned in some box office gold. Is the Small Uncanny Valley Wonder worth all the attention? Nostalgia Critic takes a look at M3gan.

M3GAN is a 2022 American science fiction horror film directed by Gerard Johnstone, written by Akela Cooper from a story by Cooper and James Wan (who also produced with Jason Blum), and starring Allison Williams and Violet McGraw, with Amie Donald physically portraying M3GAN and Jenna Davis voicing the character. Its plot follows the eponymous artificially intelligent doll who develops self-awareness and becomes hostile toward anyone who comes between her and her human companion.

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[ChannelAwesome]

What did everyone think of M3gan? Worth all the hype?

[BlackburnBigdragon]

They put that dance scene in there because the girl who was playing M3gan is a really awesome professional dancer. And they let her design a lot of the robot's uncanny behaviors and movements. She was so good that she actually did all her own stunts. The scenes where she was running on all fours and when she rose from the ground all creepy without using her arms were all moves that she came up with that the director thought just looked cool and creepy. Those weren't special effects or CGI. She really did those things herself. Even the odd way that she moved when doing normal things was all her just using her dance knowledge to do movements in an odd, and unsettling, way. She put a lot of her dancing talent into making that character creepy, and the director encouraged her to do so.

[TheIronMask]

I personally took the dance scene as M3gan performing outlandishly as a "fuck you" for the guy because everytime he was in a room with her or spoke about her he was demanding she perform a certain way. Kind of a "whats wrong, isnt this what you wanted?" situation.

[arrow_of_ravenclaw]

Fun fact: Katie’s actress, Violet, actually comes from a family with another good horror film kid actor. Her sister, Madeline, was Gwen in the black phone.

[geardog]

"It is an unsettling mix of fear and laughter I can't turn away from."

"And that's why your fan base watches you, so don't ruin the fun."

You know us all too well. 😂

[alruin]

"I thought about how chucky scares us, and then it made me ask: what would scare chucky?" What a great line 😂

[koneheadcokehead]

Another Fun Fact: Allison Williams revealed there's a certain unrated moment that makes her sick to her stomach. Williams said, "The unrated version is a lot of fun, if you have the stomach for it." When asked if there was a specific scene that makes her squirm, she replied, "Oh, my God. It should be when a child perishes, but at one point, someone's face loses a fight with a pressure washer and it starts to peel off. Even though I know how it works behind the scenes and I watched all the tests they did with the special effects makeup, I still get sick to my stomach when I see it. It just grosses me out. I don't do well with gore in general, so that moment is particularly gnarly to me."

[jaythosonmp]

just wanna say malcolm was on point in this episode, i laughed at every line delivery

"she said she was going to eat my foot, ripped my foot, THEN ATE MY FOOT!!"

[koneheadcokehead]

A Neat Fact: At the time of its release, this was one of the first films within the previous 45 years to be released theatrically on the first Friday in January and obtain a Certified Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. This is very rare, as most films released in this particular timeframe are usually panned by critics.

[Cloud-zblw]

Her dance is about as iconic as Death’s whistle from Puss in Boots.

[koneheadcokehead]

Fun Fact: Adrien Morot and Kathy Tse of Morot FX Studio created an animatronic puppet version of M3GAN that was used for dialogue and close-ups. There was also a second animatronic used for certain scenes, as well as a posable stunt version of M3GAN that wasn't puppeteered. The animatronic M3GAN was puppeteered via a variety of techniques, which included radio-controlled facial expressions performed by Adrien and Kathy in tandem, automated lip-sync for the dialogue (temp tracks were provided during filming by New Zealand actress Kimberley Crossman) and a puppeteer physically moving M3GAN's head and body.

[KombatGod]

7:19 I actually thought the aunt was a GREAT character, it's way more subtle than the usual cliche of the dad who works all day and misses the daughter's play or the son's baseball game or whatever, this is a caretaker who just has takeout pizza for dinner but recommends the child to eat the vegetable toppings on it!

[koneheadcokehead]

A Interesting Fact: Amie Donald performed any of M3GAN's scenes that called for physical movement the puppet could not do. She also performed all of her own stunt work. Donald received movement coaching from Jed Brophy and Luke Hawker in portraying M3GAN's agility. On set, Donald wore a static silicone M3GAN mask created by Morot FX, and this was later replaced by a CGI version of M3GAN's face to match that of the animatronic.

[brandonmclendon]

M3gan was an absolute blast to watch, plus it was a rarity of the first movie of the year being good.

[rossthebesiegebuilder]

I'm surprised you didn't mention the inconsistency of M3gan's weight. The bully easily lifted M3gan, yet in the scene at 18:35, she outweighed the grown man by enough to easily hang him using the pulley system. Also, why did M3gan kill the CEO who was trying to bring her to market and produce more of her?

[benm]

I think the reason this movie worked is the same reason why Happy Death Day worked, because they’re both movies in which they nailed the tone of being self aware but not *TOO* self aware

[JDotWill]

The girls that played M3gan did a good job. The voice actress & the girl that did all the physical acting

[DanGamingFan]

First of all, Tamara dis a really good job as M3gan. Secondly, this was one of the best horror comedies I've seen in recent years. M3GAN is just the right amount of cute and realistic, and uncannily creepy. Both the the girl in the costume, Amie Donald, and the wonan who voiced her, Jenna Davis, did an amazing job bringing M3GAN to life. I love her singing, her smart remarks, the hilarious dance, and the way she ripped that bully's ear off was actually pretty disturbing. I'm still a little surprised this only got a PG-13 rating.

[koneheadcokehead]

It's nice to see James Wan get more credit for how great of a filmmaker he is

[johnnysparkle]

What Could Have Been: One of the lead writers of the film has stated how it was originally set to be R rated - much bloodier with a higher body count - but it was trimmed down and reshot to a PG-13 when it was decided it would be more effective. The decision would be supported with M3GAN gaining a following with the younger TikTok crowd. The two death scenes many suspect were cut/reshot involve the death of the child psychologist (who suddenly dissapears from the film never to be seen again), and Gemma's two coworkers that show up alive at the end of the film despite having been left to die in a burning lab.