Monsters vs Aliens (2009)

Watching on Wednesday: Monsters vs Aliens

Title: Monsters vs Aliens
Type: Movie
Age Group: Youth +
Release Year: 2009
My Rating: 4.5/5

Susan (Reese Witherspoon) is a young woman who can not wait for her big wedding day. Everything is going according to plan... until a huge meteorite crashes down upon her from the sky!

Instead of expected death, she instead transforms into a giantess! Then before she knows it, she has become a "monster" in people's eyes!

No choice but to stay under captivity, Susan has no idea what the future has in stores for her as she yearns to become normal again. When she thinks that she will never see the light of day again, an alien invasion arrives on Earth! With her new powers and new monster friends, it is up to Susan to help save the world!

I think  this movie is simply adorable and full of fun! I absolutely love the monsters B.O.B. (Seth Rogen), which is this blob thing, and Insectosaurus, which is this adorable but skyscraper huge bug that gets entranced by light. The things B.O.B. says can't help but make you laugh because he is just that entertaining!

In the movie, you see Susan gets freaked out by her new height in the beginning. As you watch her get involved with the monsters and the evil alien, Gallaxhar (Rainn Wilson),  she learns a little more about herself. She is a character you'll love and can see a little bit of yourself of. And I think Reese Witherspoon voiced her perfectly!

Monsters vs Aliens is a fantastic movie for the family! If you like films such as Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, and Monster Inc., then you should definitely check out this one!

Last updated: 2010-04-09 07:58:37 by user01

‘Monsters vs. Aliens’ Confusing and Forgettable, yet Charming

It was the perfect alien movie parody- an outer-being invades Earth and a bunch of dim-witted monsters have to stop him. Add the fact that DreamWorks Animation (Shrek, Kung Fu Panda) is behind it should make it to be a hit! But ever since Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, DreamWorks has been going downhill.

Pixar and them were always competing to be the top studio, DreamWorks constantly casting major stars to voice (Aliens no exception) and Pixar always winning awards (Wall-E took home the Oscar for 'Best Animated Feature' last year). But even celebrities couldn't save this train wreck of a movie. The predicaments are frankly unlikely and dumb, and a lot of the scenes are left unexplained, the ending for one. Directors Rob Letterman and Conrad Vernon, who have both been with DreamWorks Animation for quite a while, Vernon having been since the first Shrek movie, attempt to create a parody of alien invasion movies like Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and may have done just that. In a scene where the president (Stephen Colbert, hilarious but unnecessary) tries to communicate with the foreign ship, he plays a keyboard, obviously spoofingClose Encounters. It'll have you snickering.

But snickering alone does not make a good comedy. A good comedy has to have a few sight gags, evenly spaced jokes and a fairly funny cast. The cast is great, and I'm not referring to their talents. Monsters vs. Aliens stars Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rogen (whose character is pretty much the best part of the movie), Hugh Laurie, Will Arnett (we also get a cameo from Amy Poehler), Kiefer Sutherland, Rainn Wilson, Paul Rudd, Renée Zellweger, John Krasinski (you know him from The Office), Ed Helms (him too), Julie White, Jeffrey Tambor and, as I mentioned before, Stephen Colbert. Of course, we also have small parts played by DreamWorks regulars including the directors plus Sean Bishop, Tom McGrath, Chris Miller, Lisa Stewart, Latifa Ouaou and Geoffrey Pomeroy. A huge cast means huge money, which Monsters is sure to make.

In Monsters vs. Aliens, a meteorite from outer space hits a young girl, Susan (Witherspoon), on her wedding day, turning her into a nearly 50 foot woman. She's taken to a secret government lair with other monsters that have been kept hidden: B.O.B (Rogen), Dr. Cockroach (Laurie), The Missing Link (Arnett) and Insectosaurus. When the world faces an alien invasion by Gallhaxar (Wilson) soon after, General W.R Monger (Sutherland) suggests to President Hathaway (Colbert) to release the secret monsters and see if they can handle the situation better than the government can. "Oooze gonna save us?" B.O.B, no contest. The giant blob of blue goo saved the movie entirely. If it wasn't for the Seth Rogen voiced character, Monsters would have fell flat. "I think that Jell-O gave me a fake phone number."

Monsters vs. Aliens is the latest rocket that DreamWorks attempts to land on the moon. It doesn't land anywhere near Kung Fu Panda or Flushed Away, but it's enjoyable if you don't think too much about it. It's full of spoofs, cameos and some goofs only the adults in the audience will get (a pretty funny one from The Colbert Report, watch for it). You get a few giggles, but no real laugh-out-loud moments come from it.

Pixar's still going strong, but DreamWorks is staring to create epic money-making bombs.

2/5 popcorn buckets.

(Read Less...)

-Nick

MONSTERS VS ALIENS (2009)

BOTTOM LINE: Clever, witty, fun and looking glorious in 3-D, “Monsters Vs Aliens” is a solid CG-animated flick which both kids and adults should enjoy, even though it lacks a knockout punch.

THE GOOD: Nine times out of ten, a CG-animated movie is more often than not great and one can only speculate that the reason for this stems from the fact that so many years of time and effort are spent making them. Pixar is the studio that makes the AA-grade CG films, but Dreamworks Animation is close behind and with “Monsters Vs Aliens”, the company has shown its ability to deliver a good quality film, even though it is not quite up to Pixar’s lofty standards. As the title would suggest, aliens come to earth to take over the planet and it is up to a group of monsters who have been locked up in the top secret military base Area 51 to take them on. The film is full of great one-liners and colourful characters, least of which being the monsters themselves. Both B.O.B. and Insectosaurus stand out as being the funniest, the former with his lack of brain and subsequent comedic banter and the latter for his sheer size masking a cute benign personality. There are a lot of human characters in this story, led by Susan (aka Ginormica) who becomes a super-strong giant after a radioactive meteorite lands on top of her on her wedding day. The US President is particularly funny, especially when he starts playing the Beverley Hills Cop theme (or for the new generation, the Crazy Frog tune) as a means of communication with the aliens in a nice rip-off of “Close Encounters Of The Third Kind”. Where this film differentiates itself from others of its type is its execution in digital 3D which is nothing short of astounding. The pictures and effects are so clear, colourful and vibrant that you feel like you are in the movie itself and unlike IMAX, it is not overwhelming. The future of 3D is really in this type of film and hopefully this trend will continue in to the future. “Monsters Vs Aliens” is a good, fun film with some stunning visuals and colourful characters making for an enjoyable experience.

THE BAD: It may be harsh to say this film does not quite reach the heights of its genre, but with so many great CG-animated films made, this description cannot be avoided. “Monsters Vs Aliens” is good, but it does not match the quality of films like “Finding Nemo” or “Wall-E” from Pixar. The reason for this is largely due to a lack of punch and lethargy in the story telling. Despite being a short ninety minutes, the first twenty or so go by a little too slowly without much to grab your interest; most of this is spent setting up Susan’s character and while it is important to the way the rest of the film plays out, it is also a little boring. Also, given the comedic nature of the main monster characters, it is a shame that more was not done to exploit this, leaving parts of the film a bit flat in execution. As a result of these factors, the film lacks a knockout punch that would have made it memorable which is a shame because the core concept is fantastic and its rendering in 3D is marvellous.

RATING: 7.5/10

Todd Murphy <br />
http://www.allaboutmovies.net

Monsters vs Aliens — 8

So I think that I have come to the conclusion that I watch to many kids movies. But here’s the thing, I also used to hate them a lot, until I got my serving job at SMG. Then after a while of watching them, they actually grow on you a lot, A LOT! No joke.
Now this is basically what would happen if monsters actually had to fight aliens. It’s fantastic in the fact that not only does it keep true to both sides; it’s fantastic in the fact that in almost every scene there is a reference to someone alieny or monstery. Such as references to Red Dwarf, Frankenstein, The Fly, Titan AE, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and so many more it would be impossible to list every single one of them. And yes even Star Wars and Star Trek. It really is hard not to notice at least one reference in this movie.

Now even with all of these references, and keeping true to both genre’s this movie still manages to have its own plot that is different than all of the other alien and monster movies, which is incredible. But even then, the plot is not fantastic by any means, but this movie is not so much about the story as it is the action and the humor. It’s almost like someone just tried to piece together something quick, but made it funny.

Now the ending was awesome, I could not have asked for a better one. But what royally peeves me is when movies are so full of themselves, that they know they will get a sequel and set it up in the end. I hate it, and it does not belong in any movie, end of story.

All in all if you have some spare time and this is lying around, then my god put it in! Its well worth your time and it will seem like 94 minutes passed you by in no time.

Base Score = 7
+2 for amazing references
-1 for stating a sequel
= 8/10

(Read Less...)

Last updated: 2010-01-12 01:53:05 by Tolll

Movie Review : Monsters Vs Aliens 3D

This is the first movie I have seen in 3D. Being a first, it warrants a review here in my blog.

The story is both quirky and silly: the US government employs Monsters to fight an Alien invasion. Most of the characters are homage to 1950’s horror/sci-fi films like the Blob, the generic flying saucer aliens and the 50-foot Woman. At times, it can be predictable, but the movie is very entertaining as a whole.

Seth Rogen as the voice of B.O.B. is the funniest character in the movie. Though the story focuses on Susan (or Ginormica, voiced by Reese Witherspoon), the other support characters provide funny moments as well. Hugh Laurie of the hit TV show House plays the mad scientist Dr. Cockroach Ph.D. Keifer Sutherland of 24 provided the rough and tough voice of the General.

The area that the movie shines the most is of course the visuals. The 3D is not much in your face type of 3D; it is more into the subtle depth of the pictures resulting in a brilliant movie experience. The 3D movies in Disneyland focuses mainly on novelty animations that seem to touch your face, where you feel you can touch everything. This movie however centres on 3D that presents characters as if they are in a live stage.

The actions scenes are continuous and breathe taking. Being a movie for kids, there is no graphic violence or death, but there is no reason for adults to enjoy the movie as well. All in the name of silliness, this flick will provide two hours of awesome videos, funny jokes and unadulterated fun.

This 3D movie costs $17 for a ticket compared to $10 for the non-3D one. Bit of a bummer though are the 3D glasses falling off your nose. They made it to fit everyone, making it too wide for people with smaller heads. It is a bit uncomfortable, but it will not ruin your movie experience.

Monsters Vs. Aliens

When I first heard about this movie I was as giddy as a school girl about it. The thought of classic monsters from the 50s taking on an alien invasion is a dream matchup equivalent to Ali-Frazier, but after I watched this I was a little disappointed. Not that it wasn’t a great movie, but the fact that it was set in modern-day kind of deadens the effect.
The 50s would have made the perfect backdrop for this, and wouldn’t have changed any parts of the plot except for the laptop at the very beginning. It just seems to be that this should have occurred in a time when everyone was paranoid about monsters and aliens, as opposed to everything but them, as they are these days, but maybe that’s just me
As I said before, this is by no stretch of the imagination a bad film. As a matter of fact, it’s really good.
Reese Witherspoon is all happy on her wedding day, then as she’s outside crying she get’s hit by a meteorite. Fast forward a few minutes and she’s at the alter about to say I do, then she suddenly starts glowing and then goes through a growth spurt. Strangely enough he hair turns white…don’t ask me how growing to 50 ft makes your hair turn from brown to white, but apparently it does. Personally, I think it was an upgrade.
The military shows up tags and bags her, so to speak, detains, debrief, and whatever else they do when they want to cover stuff up. Next thing we know she’s in this cell thinking she’s laying next to her supposed-to-be husband Derek. We go through the whole sequence of her meeting all the principal characters of the film here, General W.R. Monger, Dr. Cockroach, B.O.B., The Missing Link, and Insectosaurus.
Fast forward a bit and enter the villain, Gallaxhar, who wants the power of the meteorite that hit Susan. So, he sends out a giant probe to extract her. The thing lands in California. As one reporter puts it, “aliens only land in America.”[sic]  There is a big to do about the probe and the President of the U.S. (ironically and hilariously voiced by Stephen Colbert) attempts to make first contact. This doesn’t work and seems to do nothing more than activate the thing. Soon we see the President and his generals in sort of war room, when General Monger suggests he let the monsters handle it.
The monsters are…unleashed…for lack of a better term on San Francisco to stop the thing. THe fight tears up most of the city and spills out into the Golden Gate Bridge, where Susan realizes her full potential and takes control of the situation, ultimately defeating the probe, but not without destroying the bridge.
After some dramatic, heart warming fuzzy scene, Susan is abducted by Gallaxhar who extracts the quantonium from her, causing her to shrink back to her original size (at least she keeps her white hair) and informs her of his plan to take over Earth and eventually destroy it as he did his own.
The other monsters come to Susan’s rescue and help her to initiate the self-destruct sequence. In a final confrontation with Gallaxhar, Susan in nearly beaten, but then gets the quantonium back and becomes Ginormica again, totally saving the day.
Voice casting here is brilliant. EAch character seemed tailor-made for their voice actor. Keifer Sutherland is unrecognizable as General Monger until you see his name in the credits, and I’ve already mentioned Stephen Colbert as the president.
The action is what you would expect from your typical sci-fi genre flick. A city gets destroyed, ships blow up, the world is in danger, the usual.
I didn’t care for the dramatic mid section, but I suppose you had to have a calm before the storm, as it led to Susan getting captured. I also wasn’t a fan of the design of Derek. He looks like they animators just took a model from Happily N’Ever After put a suit on him, changed his air, and stuck him in Modesto, CA as a weatherman. That’s just a minor complaint, if you can even call it that.
I had high expectations for this picture. It didn’t live up to the standards I set for it, but that doesn’t mean I still didn’t enjoy it. How could you not? The film has everything except for transforming robots, and actually, the probes kind of fit that bill. Again, I think it would worked better had it been set in a different era. Still, anyone can watch and enjoy this, and not have to think too hard about it. Those born after 1985, may not get the keyboard scene, though. Only those of us older viewers will know those songs.

http://thankyounetflix.wordpress.com

(Read Less...)