Interesteg
What makes it different from others?
Tedfoldol
everything you have heard about this movie is true.
Konterr
Brilliant and touching
Janae Milner
Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.
Dean Gillings
Only worth watching out of interest in seeing Tom Hanks before he exploded into being a superb and super famous actor. It doesn't know what it wants to be. Is it about "mazes and monsters" for fans of the game? Is it about the evils of playing such games? Is it about a disturbed teenager's decent into schizophrenia due to the disappearance of his brother? IF it had tried to be any one of these, it could have been good. It tries to be them all and therefore fails at all of them. At one point, we have a character say that he wants to "win" and mazes and monsters. Anyone with any knowledge of the real world game of which mazes and monsters is an expy, will know that winning is not the point at all.
Aaron1375
Yes, about the only thing this film is memorable for is that it starred a youngish Tom Hanks who only a few short years later would be a relevant star in Hollywood. Here though is not a movie that is going to showcase his talents much at all and the only other thing that might be considered somewhat entertaining about this flick is the scene where he thinks he sees a monsters and runs a guy through. Yes, this movie is about the evils of playing a game that makes a group of people use their imaginations and try to come up with interesting scenarios. Basically, an after school type special about the evils of the game Dungeons and Dragons cleverly retitled here as Mazes and Monsters. Apparently, the makers of this film thought that nerds should not have fun of any sort unless they were going to go out and do underage drinking, drugs, having lots of unprotected sex and harass other weaker children like all the popular kids were doing. No, these bad people were playing a game that actually required one to use there brain, heaven's no! Not that, if they have a brain they actually may be able to think for themselves and not be brainwashed by certain groups out there. Yes, I think this movie is utterly stupid and a waste of time. Granted, it could be a movie against addiction, but there are a lot fewer people who died taking Dungeons and Dragons to far in its entire existence than than say what drunk driving claims in like a month.
bkoganbing
This made for television film marked the first feature picture where two time Oscar winner Tom Hanks was featured in the leading role. Mazes and Monsters finds Hanks as one of four college students, Wendy Crewson, Christopher Makepeace, and David Wallace are the others who are into the board game of Mazes and Monsters. Title obviously changed by author Rona Jaffe to avoid a lawsuit from the creators of Dungeons&Dragons.The game like its real life counterpart has its followers and it can get pretty intense. Not unlike some Star Trek conventions where some folks really do get into character. When things get that intense there are some that can't handle it. Hanks turns out to be one of these, it turns out he's schizophrenic and his board character after the four of them decide to add a level of realism to the game by playing in some caverns gradually takes him over.Mazes and Monsters is a cheaply shot feature and does make good use of country and New York City locations. It's a memorable feature now because of the climax shot on the roof of one of the twin towers. The leads, especially Hanks turn in good and sincere performances.For fans of Dungeons&Dragons and Tom Hanks especially.
ReeperTheSeeker
First off, I knew nothing about 'Mazes and Monster' before I watched it. I had no knowledge of the Role-playing controversy behind it or the fact that it was a Made-For-TV movie. When I looked at the cover (the updated DVD one) I seriously thought it would be another Fantasy adventure like 'Legend', with Tom Hank as the nerdy hero from 1980s earth entering a mythical world to save a princess from an evil maze filled with monsters. Sounds exciting, right? That is what the cover suggests to you at first glance. I was given this movie as a gift, obviously under the same premise because my aunt knows I'm into action movies with a medieval myth theme. And it has Tom Hanks, one of my favorite actors. So I popped this movie in, expecting a feel good movie with Tom Hanks in a 80s special effects world that would be good for a laugh.No! None of this happens. Now before I continue I will confess, I am a nerd but I have no interest in Role-playing games. That is all this movie is about so my interest in the content is lukewarm at best. And M&M (copyright infringement?) is not even a feel good role-playing based movie with lovable geeks that uses their imagination to enter a world of awesomeness. No! This is an Anti-Role-playing movie that must have been made by some Religious folk (the same people who also think Barney is the work of Satan.) I understand, Satan is a crafty fellow but I don't think he is desperate enough for soul to lull RPG lovers into worship him. This movie is THEE anti-gamer movie. This is what I get from this movie: it hates RPGs and not only does it make fun of the people engaging in Role-playing but it makes poor Tom Hanks a mental patient.Tom had an excuse to talk to a volleyball in 'Castaway', poor guy was alone but Tom somehow made his insanity fun and you literally saw the Volleyball as a lovable character through Tom's good acting. I wish I watched that movie instead of this. In this movie, Tom is attacked by a make believe dragon creature (it looks like a poorly made mascot for a RPG team) and has a split personality that is creepy at best. Tom's acting only exceeds to make you feel bad for his character and nothing else. I get that the poor guy lost his brother and is not right in the head because of it so the movie does win points for being intentionally tragic. I am not one for films that exploit mental illness and the ending to 'M&M' made me feel like cr*p. Luckily I watched 'Hudson Hawk' afterwards and got a good laugh before my soul was crushed any further. Yah, 'HH' surpasses 'M&M' by . . . a LOT! This is not one of Tom's better films. In fact it is thee most depressing movie I've ever seen him in (Even 'Saving Private Ryan' is not this depressing). I walked in hoping to watch a feel good movie and I ended up feeling the exact opposite. If you want to watch a sad (both emotionally and visually) movie then by all means watch this. If this movie is to convey a message, it is this: "Don't play RPGs if you are Cuckoo for Coco-Puffs."