I submitted this to the front page two weeks ago. I figure that, since it hasn't shown up yet, it just wasn't good enough to make the cut. (If I'm mistaken, sorry!)
In any case, there's no sense in letting it go to waste, sitting forlorn and neglected on my hard drive. So, here you go. Hope someone finds this useful.
--------------------------
Dreamworks Animation has something of a mixed track record when it comes to the quality of the movies they make. On the one hand, they have produced wonderful, hilarious, groundbreaking films like "Shrek" or "Kung Fu Panda". On the other, they have produced films, like "Over the Hedge", that can charitably be described as "average".
It is thus with some anxiety that I went to see Dreamworks' latest effort, "Monsters vs. Aliens", in 3D. Which Dreamworks would show up to the party? Would I be treated to a deep comedic masterpiece, or shallow, barely-watchable claptrap? I hope it won't spoil the review to tell you that, in fact, it was neither.
We follow the story of Suzan Murphy (Reese Witherspoon), whose life is changed forever when awesome powers fall from the heavens and smack her on the head. She makes new and unusual friends, battles enormous robot probes, and discovers the inner strength to do amazing things. I'm being deliberately vague in this summary, because this is a film where knowing too much beforehand would spoil the fun.
And it is a tremendous amount of fun. It is both visually grand and steeped in visual comedy, and is relentlessly funny from start to finish. Many of the laughs are delivered through an amorphous, gelatinous, sentient blob of goo that eats everything. His name is B.O.B., his voice is named Seth Rogen, and he will make you laugh every time he opens his copious mouth. Add in a psychotic general (Kiefer Sutherland), a mad scientist (Hugh Laurie) with the appearance and abilities of a cockroach, and a caricatured President voiced by none other than Stephen Colbert, and you have a recipe for comedic success.
The 3D contributed to the spectacle and was done well enough that it faded into the background (and the foreground, and the middleground, and...). You could watch this film without the 3D and still have a good time; however, why would you want to? It's worth whatever extra charge the theater puts on the tickets to see it in 3D.
Unfortunately, "Monsters vs. Aliens" is not very deep; it has a shallow plot and shallow characters. It trades suspense and intrigue for gags and jokes, especially in the climactic final battle, where we never fear that the heros might fail. Additionally, some of the dialog and imagery is a bit campy, clearly paying homage to and parodying the B-movies from which its plot was surely inspired.
But never mind all that. Yes, it could have been better had the writers made it deeper, but it never promised to be deep. It promised to be a tremendous amount of fun, and delivered flawlessly on that promise. Go see this movie. If you, like me, are a child pretending to be an adult, you will leave the theater with a big, stupid grin on your face.
"Monsters vs. Aliens" is rated PG, I would assume because it blows a lot of stuff up. However, there is nothing in the film that I would want to keep from children of any age, so take the whole family. If your kids enjoyed Pixar's "The Incredibles", they should get a kick out of this film too.
