Gobbled by Ghorks

September 15, 2014
Conflicts in creaturedom continue as a new attack by the nefarious Ghorks leads to an epic food fight. Also monster dinner-theater cabaret. This sequel to The Creature Department (2013) sends young hangers-on Elliot and Leslie along with hulking knucklecrumpler Gugor, fashion-forward fairy-bat Jean-Remy and the rest of tech company DENKi-3000's motley array of nonhuman engineers and inventors to a grand food festival in nearby Simmersville. It seems that the Ghorks-five types of malign creature, each being a single outsized sensory organ-are experimenting with an elixir that will transform unwitting festival diners into a Ghorkolian army. Scotching that scheme requires not only heroic battles with snot-blasting nose-ghorks and like foes, but putting on a show ("WE HAVE SPOOKY CREATURE FEATURES! / HORNS AND FANGS! / TEETH AND TAILS! / AND POORLY TENDED FINGERNAILS!") as prelude to a rousing climactic melee. As with its predecessor, the actual plot takes second place to the elaborate monster worldbuilding. Not exactly a rip-off of Monsters, Inc. but with plenty of shared DNA in the casting and dialogue, it's a yummy romp, served with generous sides of slapstick, satire and self-actualization topped with a dash of creaturely romance. (Fantasy. 10-13)

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