Dave Made A Maze Hidden Gem Feast For The Eyes Streaming On Amazon Prime, Peacock

Written By Matthew Sadowski

I’m a sucker for movies about imagination. The Lego Movie and Pan’s Labyrinth are two great examples, both about kids’ anxieties coming to life as playful fantasies in reaction to authority figures exerting a bit too much control: the only way to navigate outward is to head inward. Dave Made a Maze takes this idea and swaps out the kids for thirty somethings and the “authority figures’ ‘ for an artist’s fear of failure. What results is a visually inventive movie with a poignant commentary on the struggles of creating something all your own.

The titular Dave (Nick Thune), we are told in an animated intro, has been struggling as an artist for some time now, always starting a project, losing interest, and moving on to something else. One day, Dave’s girlfriend Annie (Meera Rohit Kumbhani) returns from a weekend away to find a giant cardboard fort in their living room with Dave somehow trapped inside. Dave warns that he has built a labyrinth that has begun to magically grow beyond his control, but insists that he cannot just wreck it; he needs to complete it himself. Annie, with Dave’s friends Gordon (Adam Busch) and filmmaker Harry (James Urbaniak), who brings along a movie crew, the group braves a bizarre, fantastical labyrinth that is impossibly bigger on the inside and filled with deadly cardboard traps and monsters. 

The sets are the best part of the movie, all made of cardboard with colorful and intricate designs making every new chamber of the maze unique. One room holds attacking cardboard birds, another may just be a hallway covered in playing cards, and another has a cardboard buzzsaw trap. It is refreshing to see a movie that commits itself to purposely cheap special effects, allowing the story to be enriched by the DIY nature of its world. It looks cheesy because the characters can’t believe how cheesy it is. Unfortunately, the performances don’t always work within the world, sometimes too goofy for the already wacky situations that the characters are in. Why chew such lovingly crafter scenery? 

But in all, Dave Made a Maze is a breezy 80 minute adventure about what happens when a personal creation takes on a life of its own, affecting those around the creator in ways unintended. It is never too heavy-handed, and the silliness never becomes too grating. It is what too many movies are not: fun.

We also provide red carpet hosting services as guests walk into your event one of our hosts will interview the guest. Photographyis one of our services feel free to contact at anytime 24 hours a day. HustleTV we love our fashion, music keeps the world moving Follow us on all social media Platforms