Steve Hudson’s Stitch Head is a whimsical enough tale. Adapted from the Guy Bass series of the same name, the film is a cute, kid-forward take on the Frankenstein myth. There are adorable monsters, a small handful of easily digestible themes, and a bevy of inoffensive bathroom jokes. There’s not a ton here to dislike, but there’s also not a ton here to admire, either, particularly because, for all its emphasis on self-love, the movie is woefully non-distinctive.

In addition to Frankenstein, it is derivative of so many texts before it: Hotel Transylvania, The Greatest Showman, Beauty and the Beast. It has a wide range of direct references to E.T., 2001: A Space Odyssey, even, seemingly, Nightmare Alley. Hudson, who also wrote the script, doesn’t have enough here to distinguish it from similar fare, even when confined to children’s horror. A child watching this would likely not know any of these references, but the approach seems to contradict the film’s central (albeit milquetoast) messaging of “be yourself.”

Stitch Head Needed More Time To Understand Its Own Makeup

Taking place in the fictional English town of Grubber’s Nubbin (population 665), Stitch Head begins as Fulbert Freakfinder (Rasmus Hardiker) wheels in his colorful Traveling Carnival of Unnatural Wonders, singing one of the film’s two songs, “Are You Ready for Monsters?” Promising a stomach-churning showstopping event, Freakfinder cannot actually deliver much, and none of Grubber’s Nubbin’s sad-looking population seems to care. Little Arabella (Tia Bannon) explains that the town is already scared of something much more terrifying: Castle Grotteskew.

Up on the hill above the town, the Professor (Rob Brydon) re-animates freakish abominations to Almost Life (registered trademark, patent pending) with the help of Stitch Head (Asa Butterfield), his first creation. The professor is comically unaware of his assistance in the laboratory, and Stitch Head, depressed as all get-out, wants only the professor’s love. To keep his creations at bay, the professor indoctrinates them all into believing that the town would likely form an angry mob and kill them all if they got out. Meanwhile, Arabella’s nan (Alison Steadman) effectively doles out the same message.

Freakfinder sees a business opportunity and soon lures Stitch Head away from the castle to join his circus with the promise of the public’s adoration, which proves to be (mostly) true. Exploiting the young boy’s body, which is, indeed, held together by stitches, Freakfinder turns a quick buck. But Creature (Joel Fry), the professor’s most recent creation, decides to bravely run into town to save his self-proclaimed “bestest best friend.” Chaos ensues between the creatures and the townsfolk in an inevitable collision of two populations taught to fear the other.

Stitch Head is, like its band of monsters, a harmless affair. But it misses most of its emotional targets. Part of the film’s heartwarming ethos depends upon us caring about the relationship between Creature and Stitch Head, which is roughly a day old. It seems strange not to focus the friendship on two people who have a more invested connection, particularly because, up until the film’s final act, Stitch Head doesn’t seem to care much about the one-eyed, furry-headed, dragon-tailed cuddler. In fact, Stitch Head is hard to really latch onto because of his overwhelming moroseness, which is partly due to Butterfield’s lackluster vocal performance.

A lot of the messaging seems murky here, too. If it is meant as a parable of self-acceptance and individuality, then it hardly seems appropriate that all ten or so monsters are largely homogenous in terms of personality (sweet, caring, overflowing with cowardice). If it is meant as a warning about fear of the Other, who is the “other” in this scenario? Stitch Head is exploited by Freakfinder and abandoned by the professor. Is the message then that we can only rely on ourselves, or else on some bland idea of a chosen family?

Design-wise, the film is evocative and delightful, especially when inside the gothic confines of Grotteskew’s labyrinthine halls and stairways. There’s been a lot of attention paid to the specifics of each monster’s physical makeup, but I wish that same uniqueness was paid to their personality types. Younger children will delight in the film’s atmospheric wonder, but older children may be bored by the simple yet nonspecific comedy.

With his options seeming pretty grim, Stitch Head should probably continue his search for the self. Peeling the film further back behind its surface reveals a decidedly grim and even cynical vision. But, at least it’s nice to know that all it takes to make friends is to declare it out loud, as Creature does. In Stitch Head, that may be the most fearless action anyone takes.