3-D Takes Monsters to the Next Level
Earth is under attack! A strange being from another world known as Gallaxhar (Rainn Wilson) has sent a gigantic robot to recover a meteor with mysterious properties, not caring what sort of chaos and destruction it leaves in its humongous wake.
Susan brings her new friends home in DreamWorks Pictures' Monsters vs. Aliens
What he doesn’t know is that this piece of space rock slammed right into perky all-American girl Susan Murphy (Reese Witherspoon), on her wedding day no less, and transferred its powers into her. Suddenly 49-feet-11-inches tall, kidnapped by cantankerous Army General W.R. Monger (Kiefer Sutherland), held in a super-secret government compound and re-named Ginormica, she just wants to get back to her nebbish weatherman fiancé Derek Dietl (Paul Rudd) and forget any of this has otherworldly bedlam has happened.
But the President (Stephen Colbert) has other plans. He’s allowed Monger to release Susan and her fellow captives, the brilliant but insect-headed Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D. (Hugh Laurie), the half-ape, half-fish The Missing Link (Will Arnett), the gelatinous and indestructible B.O.B. (Seth Rogen) and the 350-foot grub Insectosaurus, to battle their invader. In order to regain their freedom they’re going to have to join forces and take on Gallaxhar, the fate of the planet riding on whether or not this quintet of monsters can slap this invading alien into docile submission.
DreamWorks Pictures’ latest animated adventure Monster vs. Aliens isn’t anything new or special. Happily, what it lacks in originality it more than makes up for it in entertainment value. Thanks to some splendid vocal work by its all-star cast and some truly marvelous 3-D effects this family epic is a definite good time, kids and adults alike sure to find plenty to enjoy and little to be disappointed about.
Not that there is anything spellbinding or special about any of this. Unlike last summer’s effort from the studio Kung Fu Panda, this one never quite elevates the genre in a way that’s particularly memorable. The screenplay and story (credited to six writers) is obvious in every single which way there is offering few surprises or intrigues which might give the film some sort long-lasting resonance. It’s paint-by-numbers, and while the colors used on the canvas are pretty darn extraordinary it’s still rather difficult to get past the fact the final painting is one we’ve all seen before.
Yet by and large I didn’t mind any of this. The entire cast give such whimsically appealing performances (Witherspoon, Rogen and Arnett the standouts), and directors Rob Letterman (Shark Tale) and Conrad Vernon (Shrek 2) keep the action moving so assuredly, that many of the structural miscues and hiccups end up not mattering quite near as much as they probably should. By and large this is a fun movie, the laughs and the giggles coming so frequently I almost inadvertently burped up popcorn all over my lap.
As for the 3-D, Monster vs. Aliens arguably sports some of the best I’ve seen yet. While stop-motion marvel Coraline used it more dexterously start to finish, this one boasts a handful of moments that are so extraordinary I audibly gasped. There is fantastic montage inside the government monster compound that’s sensational, while a climactic flight through the air is as awe-inspiring and wondrous as any I could ever have imagined.
Will the movie work as well if seen without the glasses and in a 2-D format? Probably not, but as I didn’t watch it that way myself I can’t really say for sure. In my opinion, though, there’s no reason to even ponder viewing it that way, the extra dollars required for 3-D presentations for once actually worth it.
As for the movie itself, Monsters vs. Aliens isn’t an animated epic that’s going to change a person’s life or be remembered much longer than it took me to write this review. But it does entertain, sometimes spectacularly, and when so much currently sitting in the multiplex belligerently refuses to do just that this is one gift I’m not about to return.
- review reprinted courtesy of the SGN in Seattle
Film Rating: êêê (out of 4)
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