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MONSTERS VS ALIENS

Voices of: Reese Witherspoon, Hugh Laurie, Will Arnett, Seth Rogen, Rainn Wilson, Paul Rudd, Kiefer Southerland and Stephen Colbert

Directed by: Rob Letterman and Conrad Vernon

Rated PG for sci-fi action, some crude humor and mild language

By John Delia

Between seeing the trailer and going to the screening of Monster’s VS Aliens I had a lot of doubt about the animated film, including a storyline that looked a lot like The Day the Earth Stood Still, animation that seemed lifeless and a little skeptical about the highly touted InTru 3D, but you know what, I was proved wrong. The film is a monster hit from its very funny beginning to the explosive big finish.

Susan Murphy (Witherspoon) is unwittingly clobbered by a meteor full of outer space gunk on her wedding day and mysteriously grows to nearly 50 feet tall. The military lead by General W.R. Monger (Southerland) jumps into action and Susan gets captured and put into a secret government compound. There, she is renamed Ginormica and held along with a ragtag group of Monsters: the brilliant but insect-headed Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D. (Laurie); the macho half-ape, half-fish, The Missing Link (Arnett); the gelatinous and indestructible B.O.B. (Rogen); 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 (Colbert) is persuaded to enlist the motley crew of Monsters to combat the alien robot and save the world from imminent destruction.

The fun in this film comes from the actors who voice the characters. Witherspoon makes a very funny Susan as she aimlessly finds herself among some very weird characters that are ordinarily very disgusting to her. The hilarious dialogue combined with great animation reminded me of the comedy that won the hearts of Shrek lovers. I love B.O.B. played by Rainn Wilson, a blob of gelatin that thinks he’s indestructible. Whenever he thinks he has proved his strength something seems to prove him wrong. In a very funny scene he makes the move on a Jello desert.

The film is filled with comical blunders, prate falls and cleaver dialogue that keeps rolling with the creators parodying the 50’s monster films like The Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman, The Blob, The Monster From The Black Lagoon and others. Much like Shrek that lampooned much of the fairy tales brought to life by Disney, this seems to be the start of a new franchise for Dreamworks.

The 3D effects are awesome when combined with IMAX. The depth of field and the wild stuff coming at you are great, but more importantly; the clarity of the projected image is astounding.
The movie is Rated PG for sci-fi action, some crude humor and mild language.

FINAL ANALYSIS: See Monsters VS Aliens, it’s a monster of a movie. (5 of 5 Palm Trees)