Monster Trucks is a 2017 Nickelodeon movie that features high school student Tripp discovering a new species of long-hidden underwater creature underneath the mountain ranges near his home town. Lucas Till, Jane Levy and Rob Lowe star.
Monster Trucks contains examples of:
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Tripp is nothing but rude and dismissive to Meredith at the start of the film, where she's been assigned him for Biology tutoring, which he's clearly uninterested in and tries to push her away. Despite his behavior, she changes into a nice dress to visit Tripp's work for a tutoring session, despite the fact that it's in a junkyard.
- Almighty Mom: Assuming that the red creature is the female of the species, during the final chase sequence, Creech's mother shows the most pro-active attitude of the creatures; flipping two opposing trucks and helping to stabilize Creech/Tripp during their race down the mountain.
- Artistic Licence – Biology: Not only do Creech's species 'eat' oil, but it is noted that Creech basically becomes hyper when he is fed petrol because of the additional chemicals in it compared to standard oil. Not to mention that no organism on Earth could subsist on just oil. Even if raw petroleum could be digested as a calorie source, living things need protein too.
- Artistic License – Physics: At the climax, Tripp is stuck in his upside-down truck with Creech on the edge of the fissure into the caves. The truck falls, but Tripp is rescued from drowning by Creech and put on dry land. Because the water was the problem, not the fall, easily 200 feet, before the water. Tripp should have died of massive blunt force trauma before drowning could possibly be an issue.
- Bittersweet Ending: Terravex's schemes have been exposed and Creech's species have been declared protected with their environment sealed off, but Creech has to return to his home environment, suggesting that he and Tripp will remain parted.
- A Boy and His X: Tripp and Creech form a strong bond as Tripp constructs the truck to help Creech move around.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: Tripp is clearly a brilliant mechanic and engineer, able to learn plenty of advanced biology very quickly too... when it suits him. However, at the start of the movie, he's been assigned Meredith as a Biology tutor because he simply can't be bothered to do the actual work. When Tripp's giddily explained to her everything he's learned about Creech overnight, she's surprised to realize he's this trope instead of, well...Meredith: Wow, you're not dumb!
Tripp: ... What?
Meredith: [Hasty subject change] - Broken Pedestal: Tripp was initially fond of his father before that man basically betrays Tripp to his superiors. Because he's a jerk who doesn't care about his son. Sorry, Tripp.
- Bioluminescence Is Cool: Creech displays this ability whenever he is seen swimming in water. His parents and the other members of his species display this ability as well.
- Call-Back: Early in the film, Tenneson says the EPA would shut Terravex's operation if they so much as heard there were horned lizards on Terravex land. At the end, Dr. Dowd is seen releasing horned lizards on the property as Meredith calls the EPA with a tip about it.
- Closest Thing We Got:
- A good description of Meredith, as for a fair portion of the film she's the closest thing Tripp has to a biologist to help him understand how Creech might exist and what the creature needs to live.
- Later on, Dr. Dowd has to drive the truck being used by Creech's 'father' despite his lack of experience with the creatures in such a manner (this issue may also apply to Meredith, but in her case she had second-hand experience of seeing Tripp drive Creech).
- Company Cross References: At one point, Rick can be seen watching the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "It Came from Goo Lagoon" on his computer.
- Cool Car: Monster trucks with literal monsters as their 'engines'.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Various parties at Terravex are more concerned with securing the rights to the oil under the lake than protecting Creech's species.
- Disappeared Dad: Tripp's dad left an unspecified amount of time ago, apparently long enough that his mother has moved on with Rick. Tripp is shocked to realize his father works for Terravex and basically lives just down the road. When he goes to see him, Tripp realizes he's better off without him.
- Electric Torture: Burke is armed with an electric cattleprod, and it's implied he's used on Creech's parents. Later, he threatens Tripp with it for Creech's location.
- Everyone Has Standards: Dr. Jim Dowd is quoted as having stretched the truth, falsified environmental protection reports, and lied to the media in the past in the name of ensuring profit for Terravex, but he explicitly rejects the idea of killing Creech's species just to benefit the company, to the point that he betrays Terravex to help Tripp and Meredith get Creech's family home.
- For Science!: When Terravex captures two creatures, Dr. Dowd practically begs to study them, claiming it's to better track the one that escaped. Clearly, though, he's just itching to learn about this new species, a feeling that grows as he realizes how intelligent they really are and leads to his Heel–Face Turn.
- From Bad to Worse: Tripp's dad betraying him to Terravex is pretty awful. Burke cheerfully threatening him with a cattleprod is worse. The fact that he does so in front of Tripp's father, who doesn't offer a word of protest when someone literally threatens to torture his teenage son? That's chilling.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Tripp, despite being only a high school student, manages to adapt his truck into a 'wheelchair' for Creech where Creech basically acts as the engine for the truck.
- Genius Ditz: Tripp needs tutoring in biology, but he has a sufficiently detailed understanding of physics and mechanics to adapt his truck to allow Creech to basically act as its engine in one night, and is able to teach others how to repeat the process for two more trucks in the same time frame.
- Gonna Need More X: When he's first surprised by Creech at the junkyard, Tripp calls the Sherrif's office. When Rick turns up with a couple of deputies, one of whom has a lasso for catching dogs, Tripp tells him, "You're gonna need like twelve of those!"
- Handicapped Badass: Tripp's boss, Mr. Weathers, may be in a wheelchair, but he still manages to run his junkyard business with only Tripp for help, apparently so successfully that when a high-end truck comes in with body damage but a perfectly good engine, he can afford to just give that engine to Tripp.
- Heroic Sacrifice: During the final confrontation, Tripp gives Creech the chance to get out of the truck while they are being attacked by Burke, even though that would leave Tripp on his own in the truck to get crushed by Burke.
- Hero Insurance: Tripp and Creech do arguably millions of dollars in property damage, especially the first time Creech and Tripp take to the public roads, where an out of control Creech gets into numerous hit-and-run accidents, and Tripp's car is very distinctive, yet he's never taken to task for it, either by the authorities, or if he's a minor, by his parents, who have to deal with the bills.
- Hive Mind: To a point; when one of Creech's species learns something, any others nearby learn how to do the same thing, with a scientist comparing them to ants or bees.
- Humans Are the Real Monsters: While the creatures certainly can be aggressive, all the aggression we see from them is defensive. Meanwhile, Tenneson plans genocide against the creatures purely because they're in his way and Burke just seems to enjoy violence. Even Tripp initially plans to kill Creech with the junkyard crusher, although this is a fearful reaction and he quickly changes his mind.
- It Can Think: The creatures are very smart.
- After a night spent learning about Creech and adapting his truck to accommodate him, Tripp raves about how intelligent he is, asserting that he could learn to do anything. During the confrontation at Terravex, Creech evidently realizes Tripp is being threatened (thus interpreting the body language of a species he's only known a day and a half), and then he shows tactical ingenuity in escaping pursuers during the following chase scene.Tripp: I have no idea how he learned to do this!
- There's a CMOH when Tripp dismisses his father's betrayal to Meredith, but then goes to the truck for a cry in private, apparently forgetting that Creech is in there. A tentacle comes out from somewhere and pats his shoulder, making him jump, but then laugh. So, Creech was able to recognize distress in this alien species, and try to offer comfort.
- When Dr. Dowd realizes the creatures eat oil, he fills up a tube and passes it to one of them... who takes a hit, then throws it to the other (who is in a different tank and out of sight). Dr. Dowd's face as he realizes these creatures are able to empathize and share marks the start of his character development. When a Simon Says game proves they have a hive mind, he's positively giddy.
- After a night spent learning about Creech and adapting his truck to accommodate him, Tripp raves about how intelligent he is, asserting that he could learn to do anything. During the confrontation at Terravex, Creech evidently realizes Tripp is being threatened (thus interpreting the body language of a species he's only known a day and a half), and then he shows tactical ingenuity in escaping pursuers during the following chase scene.
- Laser-Guided Karma: All the bad guys get their comeuppance, especially the obnoxious guy in the SUV jeep who went out of his way to insult Tripp every chance he got. Said SUV jeep gets repossessed, and turned into one of the three Monster Trucks used to get Creech and his two parents home, and stop Terravex's poisoning of the nest. He spends his last scene in the movie sheepishly looking at Tripp with his new girlfriend leaving town, while he's stuck with public transport. The kicker? His girlfriend (who he treated like crap) stood there and watched Tripp take the truck. And waved at him.
- Burke treats destroying Creech's species like his personal holy mission. During the climax, he's trying to knock Tripp and Creech down the fissure while poison is about to be pumped into the creature's habitat. Creech flips Burke's SUV over the fissure and into the pump mechanism, stopping the poison and likely killing him when Burke is drenched by the toxins.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Burke puts himself in a position to be used by Tripp and Creech to destroy the equipment that was about to pump poison into Creech's habitat, with Creech throwing Burke's truck into the machinery.
- No Seat Belts: Played with. The first time Tripp tries to take Creech out in the truck, he's not wearing a seat belt and Creech opens the door to tip him out with a chuckle. Cut to Tripp firmly buckling in for another try.
- Not So Stoic: Tripp initially tries to dismiss his father's betrayal when talking with Meredith, but soon goes to the truck to cry in private.
- Oh, Crap!: After being scared by Creech at the wrecking yard, Tripp sets up a trap with oil drums and the car crusher. But when Creech is actually in the crusher, Tripp decides he doesn't want to go through with the crushing after all... only to drop the control, which shatters and starts the crusher. Tripp is forced to physically drag the massive, tentacled animal out before he dies, which makes Creech think Tripp is attacking him, leading to a second Oh, Crap! moment when he ties Tripp up in his tentacles. Then Creech has one when a flattened oil drum falls out of the crusher he was just in, making him realize Tripp wasn't attacking him.
- Product Placement: Most of the vehicles in the film are those from Stellantis (then called Fiat Chrysler at the time of the film's release) and its sub-brands, with the most prominent of these being the Ram pickups.
- The pickup that Creech serves as its "engine" is a Dodge C-3.
- Mr. Weathers' truck is a Dodge D-Series.
- The sheriffs use Dodge Durangos, especially on the scene where they investigate Tripp's garage. Rick however, drives a Jeep Cherokee.
- Refuge in Audacity: As Reece Tenneson observes, Tripp and Meredith can't exactly report what he plans to do to Creech's species to the police because nobody would believe that monsters are emerging from under the ground (particularly after Reece deleted all of the photos Tripp had of Creech).
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: When Rick confronts Burke for holding Tripp prisoner, threatening him and chasing him through town, Burke snaps that Terravex "owns this town, including you!" and reminds him that he's elected.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!:
- Dr. Dowd establishes himself as this when he chooses to help Tripp and Meredith protect Creech's species from his own employers.
- After a strained relationship with Tripp for most of the film, Rick steals a construction truck that allows him to crush most of Terravex's trucks and create a 'bridge' for Tripp, Meredith and Dowd to jump over a flaming barrier.
- Stealthy Cephalopod: It's hard to say what the creatures are, exactly, but "cephalopod" seems as good a guess as any (for one thing, they have tentacles). They are certainly sneaky, able to get around quite quickly, squeezing through incredibly narrow gaps and really only struggling on open country. The premise is that they are able to hide in plain sight by squeezing into truck engines.
- Stock Ness Monster: The underground lake hosting Creech and his species are compared at least once to the Loch Ness Monster.
- Stock Scream: The famous Wilhelm Scream is heard when one of Terravex's mooks crashes into a rock in the climatic chase.
- Stupid Evil: Tenneson takes the prize. Creech's species are highly intelligent, eager to please, very friendly, and can operate in environments people can't possibly reach. Rather than exploit this to take his business on ventures nobody else can follow, he goes with the quick and dirty policy of poisoning the groundwater under town, to eradicate the species, just so he can maybe get access to the oil atop which Creech's species is nesting.
- Tempting Fate: Tripp states that he thinks they have lost their pursuers moments before he drives around a corner to find the cars that had been chasing them coming up right behind them.
- Title Drop: A farmer calls the police to report 'monster trucks' are crossing his property.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Dr. Dowd pukes after a particularly rough maneuver during the chase. He doesn't appear to notice.
- Weak to Fire: The creatures are terrified of fire. Which, as Meredith points out, is pretty sensible for a species that eats oil.
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Various Terravex officials are perfectly willing to kill Creech's species even after Dr. Dowd affirms that they have the capacity for emotion and intelligent reasoning.
- Would Hurt a Child: Tenneson makes it clear that he won't hurt Tripp and Meredith himself, but he has no problem ordering his associate Burke to do it on his behalf, even though Tripp and Meredith are only in high school. Burke himself cheerfully threatens to torture Tripp with an electric cattleprod for Creech's location.Burke: I'll hurt you, kid.
- You Have to Believe Me!: When he's first surprised by Creech and seemingly traps him in a pit in the floor, Tripp calls the Sherrif's office. However, when Rick and a couple of deputies arrive, the pit is empty, leading Rick to assume it's a stupid prank. He sends the deputies away and tells Tripp off for wasting his time, as Tripp lamely protests that, no, there really was a creature!
