film review: dave made a maze

According to his friends, Dave (Nick Thune) is a well-meaning underachiever, always starting and never finishing projects. His latest effort marks no exception. Annie (Meera Rohit Kumbhani), Nick’s girlfriend, returns from a weekend away to the sight of a large cardboard fort in their living room. Steam puffs from vents and chimneys, accompanied by the distant echo of Dave’s voice. After spending the entire weekend constructing his latest to-be-finished endeavor he’s now gotten lost inside. Annie scoffs— although it takes up a lot of floor space, the fort definitely isn’t big enough for a grown man to get lost in. However this fort is bigger on the inside, like a TARDIS, and has taken on a life of its own. Booby traps and dead ends abound; worst of all, a Minotaur (John Hennigan) roams the passageways of this fort (really a misnomer: Dave’s built himself a labyrinth) in search of trespassers.

Meera Rohit Kumbhani and Nick Thune in Dave Made a Maze

Annie calls one friend, then another for help. Soon a small crowd, including strangers, has gathered at the apartment to marvel over Dave’s creation. Despite her boyfriend’s pleas to the contrary, Annie enlists their friends Gordon (Adam Busch) and Harry (James Urbaniak), a documentary filmmaker with cameraman and boom operator in tow, to perform a search and rescue. Several visitors trickle in behind them. Soon the group finds out the traps Dave warned them about are no joke: a floating saw blade reminiscent of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade decapitates one woman, while one man is impaled on a wall of spikes. Inside the fort reality and fantasy merge uncomfortably; the dead bodies really look dead, but their blood is a PG-rated spoof made up of yarn and silly string. With the maze turning more sinister and the Minotaur on their tail, Dave, Annie, and their friends must hurry to make it out alive.

The true standouts of Dave Made a Maze are the sets by production designers Trisha Gum and John Sumner. Constructed entirely out of cardboard and other fort-appropriate materials, the whimsical and dangerous world of Dave’s creation comes to life mostly through practical effects and stop-motion animation. It reads as a love-letter back to movies from director Bill Watterson’s (no, not that one) childhood, before the proliferation of computer-generated effects. One room plays with on-camera depth perspective; in another, a black and white film leeches off the screen until its viewers are also monochromatic; and an escape slide turns passengers into paper versions of themselves. These effects alone justify a second viewing, which would undoubtedly reveal details missed your first time through.

Dave Made a Maze flounders in its story, though. The script by Steven Sears and Watterson is thin— too thin. We are given hints of an evil force manipulating the maze, not to mention the Minotaur’s presence, but no suitable explanation is ever given for how they came to take over Dave’s creation. While the rules of the maze don’t necessarily change over time, we’re left wondering what exactly they are for the entire run time. Rather than add mystery these omissions become a source of mild frustration.

The ensemble acquits itself nicely and takes advantage of the setting to mostly sell their adventures. Thune delivers a great monologue near the half-way point that hints at a much more substantial story the script can’t capitalize on. Kumbhani, Busch, and Urbaniak all do exactly as they’re supposed to in roles that lean a little too strongly on archetypes.

Where Dave Made a Maze really succeeds is in recapturing the playful memories of favorite childhood adventures. The preponderance of practical effects create an immersive experience and help compensate for some thin writing. While it could have produced something a little more thoughtful, Dave Made a Maze is still a good choice for your next lazy Sunday indoors.

RATING: ★★ ½