Movie/DVD Review:
Monsters Vs. Aliens
Rated by 23 members
Rated PG for sci-fi action, some crude humor, and mild language.
Recommended for ages 5 and up
Run Time: 94 minutes
Quick Take: Kids are sure to enjoy this animated (and 3-D) B-Movie. Parents won't find much to object to, but might wish for more old-school 3-D trickery.
50-Foot-Woman and All, 'Monsters Vs. Aliens' Will Win Big With Kids
How much will kids like the new Monsters Vs. Aliens movie?
It's got an industrial-sized wedgie. In 3-D.
'Nuff said.
Not that parents won't be amused, too. Dreamworks' latest flick about a quartet of mutants out to rescue the universe is like Chiller Theater (remember that old monster-movie series with the six-fingered hand?) as told by a Bugs Bunny cartoon. Sophomoric humor rules. Characters are loony (a scientist with the head of a cockroach; a gelatinous, chemically altered snack-food blob that gained consciousness), And, Stephen Colbert plays the president as if he were...Stephen Colbert. I think I heard a grownup in the back gasping for air.
The central character is Susan (Reese Witherspoon) a brunette bride-to-be who, on her wedding day, is beaned by the interstellar equivalent of an ACME anvil that morphs her (and thankfully, her dress) into a 50-foot-tall, platinum-blonde Amazon. Cached away by the government with the other B-movie monsters and code named Ginormica, Susan is set free when her services are required to defend the nation from a hostile alien spaceship. And defend she does, with the brute strength and fierce determination only a mega dose of nuclear energy and a 40-foot inseam can buy.
With seemingly all of Hollywood lending voice talents, Monsters may be moviedom's first A-list B-movie. Kids will love it, but it's no kiddie movie. It's one of those buffets where zingers fly on two levels, the ones the kids catch and the ones aimed at the big kids who drove them, hence topical humor à la a certain Wascally Wabbit and a top-secret-security-clearance sequence that looks like it could be just as at home in the next Airplane movie (oh, the kid guffaws that came with that last one).
Like Coraline before it, Monsters vs. Aliens aims for a more upscale 3-D. Read: light on the gotchas. As Dreamworks' Jeffrey Katzenberg says, the goal is to move from those "cheesy old glasses" of theme-park attractions to innovative storytelling. But, unlike in Coraline, I missed some of the cheese. Don't get me wrong. The tactile landscapes, so-close asteroids, and just-missed-me explosions are nothing short of miraculous technological art -- clear, astonishing, and headache-free.
"I liked the way it came really, really close," agreed 9-year-old Victoria.
But, I found myself wishing for, I don't know, something more -- a hurling yo-yo or two, a speeding projectile, or a pie (though there was a nifty paddleball at the beginning). Maybe I was looking for some "oomph." Or, maybe I'm just a big kid. But a monster flick with a 50-foot bodacious babe, a blob, an insect man, and a creature from the black lagoon seems to cry out for at least the kind of group moments that make the entire audience cover their eyes, squeal and recoil in unison. Yeah, kinda like a theme park ride. Or a B-movie. I wanted a bona fide "Wow," but ended up with a qualified "Yay."
Still, the interstellar adventure had little ones cheering the heroes. And, an A-one cast, some laugh-out-loud jokes and pretty cool techno-tools make this one at least amply entertaining.
And, it's got a wedgie.
Kids Will Like:
Three words: Benzoate ostylezene bicarbonate. B.O.B. for short. The chemically-altered snack food has a ditzy personality and the voice of Seth Rogen. The guy is hilarious. "B.O.B. was the best," said 10-year-old Victoria as her friend Caroline, 9, nodded in agreement. The kids may never look at Jell-O the same way again. Newfangled 3-D is beautiful to be sure, and cool as can be. Having only seen it in 3-D, I can't speak with authority about what (if anything) it loses in two dimensions. For kids at least, I won't swear that the value added is worth the extra $5 or so per person for 3-D.
Parents Will Like:
Three words: Benzoate ostylezene bicarbonate. Yes, B.O.B. is as funny for grownups as he is for kids. Adults are perhaps more likely than kids to be impressed by the artistry of 3-D. Scenes on San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge are marvels to behold. Oh, and dads: Ginormica's a babe.
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