Monsters vs Aliens – A Movie Review

When California girl Susan Murphy is unwittingly clobbered by a meteor full of outer space gunk on her wedding day, she mysteriously grows to 49-feet-11-inches tall. Alerted to the threat of this new monster, the military jumps into action and Susan is captured and secreted away to a covert government compound. There, she is renamed Ginormica and placed in confinement with a ragtag group of other monsters: the brilliant but insect-headed Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D.; the macho half-ape, half-fish The Missing Link; the gelatinous and indestructible B.O.B.; and the 350-foot grub called Insectosaurus. Their confinement is cut short, however, when a mysterious alien robot lands on Earth and begins storming the country. In a moment of desperation, The President is persuaded by General W.R. Monger to enlist the motley crew of Monsters to combat the Alien Robot and save the world from imminent destruction.

Genres: Action/Adventure, Comedy and Animation, Running Time: 1 hr. 34 min.; Release Date: March 27th, 2009 (wide); MPAA Rating: PG for sci-fi action, some crude humor and mild language.

Cast: Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rogen, Hugh Laurie, Will Arnett, Kiefer Sutherland, Rainn Wilson, Paul Rudd, Stephen Colbert

Directors: Rob Letterman, Conrad Vernon

I rented this on DVD last weekend, but we didn’t get around to watching it until this weekend.

It stars the usual big Hollywood names in the trendy fashion that is voicing a CGI kids film. This time we had the talents of Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rogan (who is more than everywhere these days), a British Hugh Laurie as one of the Monsters and Keifer Sutherland hamming it up voice style as General W. R. Monger. I don’t know what it was, maybe because I actually liked the actors voicing the characters but I thought they were all great. Reese Witherspoon did a great job as Susan (Ginormica) and Seth Rogan is apparently just as funny doing voice work (and gaining most of the laughs) as the literally brainless B.O.B.

The story is as basic as it gets. Monsters are imprisoned. Aliens attack. Monsters fight Aliens and are accepted into the world. Although the story is basic that isn’t a criticism. It was simple enough for the young kids to follow but it is the telling of the story and all the little side scenes such as those involving the President of the United States and all the daft clichés were for the adults.

The animation was fantastic to look at. It had all the polish of Pixar without the over schmaltzy Disney-ness that usually accompanies it and was just as funny as the rough and ready Ice Age series. There were some very funny set pieces and the action was fast and exciting. There was nothing too scary for very young children but there is enough action that the older kids (and adults!) will be impressed. I will admit to laughing out loud more than once especially at the “global warming – convenient truth” quip.

I would give the movie 7/10. It is an animated movie that you can actually volunteer to take your kids to and enjoy it just as much as they can.

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