Review of Dave Made a Maze (2017) by Kristofer H — 10 Apr 2017

Proper Perspective: Labyrinth collides with Coraline in a coming of age movie where a man, in an attempt to invigorate his creative juices, builds a maze in his living room. There is so much more to the maze and to the movie, which ended up being one of the more entertaining movies of the year. Let's talk about Dave Made a Maze...

Official Synopsis: Dave, an artist who has yet to complete anything significant in his career, builds a fort in his living room out of pure frustration, only to wind up trapped by the fantastical pitfalls, booby traps, and critters of his own creation.

Plot: The official synopsis nailed it. Nothing to add or change there, really.

Take: After watching this movie at the Phoenix Film Festival I was talking with friends about other movies we saw. One was a movie that was pretty good sans the poor CGI and the other was Dave Made a Maze, which was a prime example of limitations being the mother of creativity. The film makers had a great idea that would probably require a sizeable budget, but because that was not an option came up with more creative ideas that fit the story better than any CGI would have.

Some of the practical effects and sets that were made with card board and creativity were magical. There are traps in the maze, so violence is introduced and the way they handled deaths was as creative and fun as I've ever seen.

The story centers around Dave (Nick Thune), who builds the maze while his girlfriend Annie (Meera Rohit Kumbhani) is out of town. When she comes home to find a cardboard maze in their living room that Dave is in, and lost in, she does not realize there is more than meets the eye with this maze.

She calls over their friends Gordon (Adam Busch), Leonard (Scott Krinsky), a small film crew and some other randoms. They all enter the maze and craziness ensues.

There is also a Minotaur.

Recommendation: Low chance that this makes its way into a theater, but when it becomes available on VOD check it out. This movie is fun with heart and uses the limitations of its budget better than most movies in recent memory...

I want a paper bag Minotaur, that is all I am going to say.