Teen Wolf: The Movie premiered on Paramount+ at the end of January and it raised some mixed responses.
As a Creative Writing student, currently studying scriptwriting, I have an excuse to watch lots of movies. One of the movies I've watched this year, for research but mainly because I was dying to see it was Teen Wolf: The Movie.
In case you didn't know, I absolutely love the TV series, Teen Wolf. I love it so much I have a Stiles Stilinski lacrosse sweatshirt and Stydia are one of my favourite on-screen couples.
So to learn that Jeff Davies was working on a feature-length film based on the TV series made me really happy. However, I wasn't 100% sure about it because I knew that Dylan O'Brien, who played Stiles, wasn't going to be in the film.
But, I watched the film anyway, despite missing Stiles, and thought I'd share my review.
My review of Teen Wolf: The Movie
The movie is set several years after the season six finale. The characters are now all grown up, and living their adult lives after college. But, strange things keep happening and they're all forced to return to Beacon Hills once again.
The IMDB description of the film says: "A terrifying evil has emerged. The wolves howl once again, but only a Werewolf like Scott McCall, can gather both new allies and reunite trusted friends to fight back against what could be the most powerful and deadliest enemy."
Whilst there is a dangerous enemy, I feel as though the phrase "most powerful and deadliest enemy" is a bit of hyperbole.
*incoming spoilers*
In the movie, the enemy is the nogitsune, the villain that we saw in season three. This time, however, it links itself to Allison, after she's resurrected through a ritual Scott, Lydia and Malia perform.
Yes, the nogitsune isn't harmless. It is a very powerful, supernatural creature, but I can think of many other enemies that Scott and the gang have faced. For instance, La Bête du Gévaudan, and even Gerard and the hunters, despite them being human.
Throughout the movie, we see Allison go after the Scooby gang. Towards the beginning she even tries to kill Eli, Derek's son, who in the movie is 15, meaning he was born around the time Allison died in season three - but no one really knows who his mother is at the moment.
With Allison trying to kill the wolves, there's also another person in play and under the influence of the nogitsune.
Adrian Harris. The chemistry teacher.
If you're an avid fan of the series, you'll remember that Adrian Harris was a character from the earlier seasons. He didn't really get involved much in the supernatural aspects of Beacon Hills, until a druid in disguise as a fellow teacher, Jennifer, sacrificed him as part of her ceremony.
Seeing Adrian come back and be the main villain was a bit of a shock. I wasn't expecting his character to ever return, so that was a good plot twist. In the movie, you see his character at the beginning, without knowing who he is, as he steals the nogitsune from Liam and Hikari, the new kitsune, who kind of took Kira's place within the Teen Wolf world.
I did like seeing the characters' lives as adults, and how they all went on their own paths. I also enjoyed having a previous villain come back rather than a brand-new one.
However, there were parts of the film that I wasn't too keen on and I felt they kind of let down the enjoyment of it.
To start with, they broke Stydia up. Now I know that logically, this is a good way to deflect against Dylan O'Brien not being in the film because if they'd kept Stydia together, it would be difficult to explain how they were together but why Stiles, the one who always loves a good mystery, wasn't returning to Beacon Hills.
This part is purely selfish of me because I wanted Stiles and Lydia to get together for sooooooo long! And they did and it was amazing, but then they broke up. But to be fair, I actually felt that the reason the writers gave for the break-up was true to Stiles and Lydia's characters.
So, I can overlook the Stydia break up but there was another couple, who was completely unexpected and who I don't think really go together.
Malia and Parrish.
At the end of season six, Malia was dating Scott and I actually really liked Scalia and thought the characters were good for each other. But in the movie, Malia is seeing Parrish and it sort of came out of nowhere.
Then we had the return of characters such as Jackson, who provided a bit of comic relief in the movie, but mainly I thought Eli was the character closest to Stiles humour.
Jackson is half-werewolf and half-kanima. In other words, he's pretty powerful. Lydia, a banshee, is also powerful if not one of the most powerful creatures in Beacon Hills.
For me, I didn't really feel as though a lot of the characters actually fought or had a purpose in the movie. Jackson and Lydia did some sleuthing, but never actually got in on the action until Lydia screamed, breaking the barrier into the world of the nogitsune where Allison, Scott and all the others were.
Liam, Scott's beta, didn't really do much in the movie either, which for me was a bit of a letdown as I really liked his character in the series. Mason, Liam's best friend, was very much the same. Once he'd been taken by the nogitsune, his role wasn't very active.
I did, however, like Derek and Eli in the movie. I enjoyed the father-son relationship and seeing them both fight and deal with Eli transforming. But, if you've seen the movie you know that it's not all happy things for the Hales as Derek sacrificed himself to save the others.
I actually watched the movie with my sister and my mum and I can tell you, my sister really doesn't like it purely because they killed off Derek. And she also wasn't a massive fan of Allison either.
My Rating
I do agree with my sister that it was very sad to see a favourite of the show be killed off, but at the same time the writer in me understands why it happened.
So overall, I did enjoy the movie; there were aspects I really liked but there were aspects that I wasn't too keen on. For me, I feel as though the movie wasn't actually necessary and that ending at season six was a great way to round off the characters' stories.
Therefore, I'm giving Teen Wolf: The Movie 3.5/5 stars.
Have you seen Teen Wolf: The Movie? If so, what did you think?
Until next time...
What can I say? I really liked Derek, and it's so sad when they make a characer a parent and then kill them off (Iron Man in Avengers: Endgame for example). I also missed Derek and Stiles towards the end of series as neither of them were in it much so was hoping to see them back in the film. However, I did like Eli's character, his sense of humour and the father-son relationship. All I can say is I hope they make more films (and maybe bring Derek back?)
I love loved the series and Stiles! So for him not to be in the film was a disappointment but I understand why he isn’t and standing up for principles is a good thing. I didn’t like the fact they killed off Derek 🥺 and where on earth did Malia and Parrish come from? 😳 As you said ending the series at series 6 was good enough.