Let me just say right off the bat that I commend “Monsters vs Aliens” for showcasing innovative 3D and expected visual brilliance, but let me add that the film also exposed an inferior script, forgettable characters and story concepts stolen from several science-fiction movies. Though it was cool idea to have a family-oriented flick that featured two “special” beings go up against each other in a grand scale, it was disappointing enough to watch it unfold in half-baked fashion.
The movie begins with California girl Susan Murphy (voiced by Reese Witherspoon), who is happily expected to wed fiancé Derek Dietl (voiced by Paul Rudd). On the day of their marriage however, Susan is hit by a green-glowing meteor from outer space and grows to 50 feet. Susan is then captured by a military and brought to a secret facility which holds other “monsters”: Dr. Cockroach Ph.D.(voiced by Hugh Laurie), a brilliant scientist with the body of a roach, B.O.B. (voiced by Seth Rogen),a brain dead living piece of goo, the Missing Link (voiced by Will Arnett), a 20,000 year-old fish man skilled in hand-to-hand combat and Insectosaurus, a fuzzy insect that stands a monstrous 350 feet tall.
Susan, now called Ginormica (the names just keep on getting interesting right?), is oriented by General W.R. Monger (voiced by Kiefer Sutherland) about her new “home” but which she considers as prison. As she starts to miss her family and friends back home, several light years away, an alien overlord smartly named “Gallaxhar” (voiced by Rainn Wilson) begins to covet planet Earth and sends a gigantic machine probe over with hostile intentions. As the U.S. army realizes that conventional warfare has no effect on the rampaging alien visitor, the confident General Monger advises the President (voiced by Stephen Colbert) that the monsters can stand a chance to fight the enemy.
Compared to other recent computer-animated releases by DreamWorks (“Bee Movie”, “Kung Fu Panda” and “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa”), “Monsters vs Aliens” ranks as the least recommended of the lot. Whereas in past films we get characters we could easily fall in love with and even go to great lengths buying their toy versions for the kids, we could care less if we saw a scaled version of Ginormica hugging the shelves. Try imagining walking into Toy Kingdom and spotting a giant Kung Fu Panda stuff toy placed beside a fluffy and bouncy Insectosaurus. Which toy would you rather be buying? An insect that looks as scared as hell with bulging eyes the size of giant watermelons?
Reese Witherspoon tries to bring charm into Susan, but her character portrayals on previous live action movies endear us more. Among the actors who lent their voices to the project, Seth Rogen provides the most impact as the dimwitted B.O.B, though sadly the dialogue made for him are tiring in most parts.
Speaking of the dialogue, the script reeks of predictable storylines and stale jokes that keep on repeating. In one scene we find B.O.B. remark a punch line that elicited no response from the audience. Minutes later, the same type of lines are again being said but failing to tickle the funny bone.
The film is a parody of many past movies, and for awhile there it was tough to keep track how many works it made fun of: “Independence Day”, “X-Men”, “Attack of the 50 foot woman”, “The Blob”, “The Fly” and “War of the Worlds”. ( If you can think of other movies it parodied, it wouldn’t be a surprise.) A clever approach of uniting all these ideas into one flick, or a lazy attempt to come up with a fresh and engaging story?
With “Monsters vs Aliens”, it’s easy to be seduced by the groundbreaking visuals and not be bothered that it lacked enough substance to bring home its nice message that individuals considered to be “different” have their place in the world. But thinking a bit further leaves enough room to suggest that this film could’ve – and should’ve been better.
FILM RATING: 2 stars (out of 5)
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