Monsters vs. Aliens
March 27, 2009
Rated: PG Runtime: 94 min Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
In the 1950s, monster movies were all the rage. Fears of the atomic bomb, chemicals in our food, science run amok, all led to movies like Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, The Blob, The Fly, The Creature From The Black Lagoon, and the various Japanese giant monster imports (Godzilla, Mothra, Gamera, etc.).
Then came the alien invasion movies. The War of the Worlds. The Day The Earth Stood Still. Earth vs. The Flying Saucers. And the Topps trading cards Mars Attacks!
This 3-D animated movie asks, what if all of those movies were dropped into a blender? What if all those monsters existed in the same world, like a kid’s version of Alan Moore’s LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN? A League of Extraordinary Monsters, if you will.
Enter Susan Murphy (Reese Witherspoon), an ordinary young woman who has the misfortune to be hit by a radioactive meteorite right before her wedding. She quickly grows to a great height (49 feet 11 inches, so she’s NOT a fifty-foot woman!). She stomps through her wedding like Bridezilla, and soon government black helicopters are surrounding her, and they’ve got a big tranquilizing dart just for the occasion.
She wakes up in a secret Area 51-ish government base, which is effectively a prison for an oddball crew of Earth-spawned monsters: B.O.B., a good-natured, dimwitted gelatinous mass (Seth Rogen). Dr. Cockroach, a mad scientist who combined cockroach DNA into his own (Hugh Laurie). The Missing Link, a fish-ape hybrid (Will Arnett). And Insectosaurus, a 350-foot monster caught stomping Tokyo.
They’re all pretty cuddly, and surprisingly not very upset about being incarcerated in a secret government prison for decades.
The general in charge of the operation (Kiefer Sutherland) informs Susan that she will now be known as Ginormica. But, since she’ll be kept locked away, she won’t get much chance to use her new moniker.
Things change however when an alien invasion starts, led by Gallaxhar (Rainn Wilson), and his alien clone army. An Attack of the Clones, if you will.
The government calls on the Earth monsters to win one for the home planet.
What follows is an epic battle in San Francisco culminating on the Golden Gate Bridge (Shades of the Ray Harryhausen movie It Came From Beneath The Sea with the giant octopus attacking the Golden Gate Bridge).
Then Susan gets abducted aboard a UFO because the head alien wants the radioactive stuff that made her big, and her new-found Earth monster pals have to try to rescue her.
Dreamworks made this, and it has the directors of Shrek 2 and Fish Tale. This is a better movie than either of those, however.
Rounding out the voice talents are Stephen Colbert, Paul Rudd, and Amy Poehler.
It claims to be the first animated movie completely in 3-D (I thought Fly Me To The Moon was also claiming that title). The 3-D is good, no doubt about it.
This is a fun time; nothing here that isn’t suitable for kids, but plenty that adults can laugh at, particularly if you’re a fan of those old 1950s monster movies. And the alien invasion is more like what the movie Mars Attacks! should have been.
Popularity: 64% [?]
Seen it? How many stars do you give it?
(2 votes, average: 4 out of 5)
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Trailer for Monsters vs. Aliens on YouTube.
And check out the Movies For Guys retrospective of Giant People Movies!