Earth's Last Hope - a Brainless Ball of Goo and a Fifty Foot Woman (Monsters vs Aliens (DVD))

Member Name: JJJJ

Product:	Monsters vs Aliens (DVD)
Date:	05/11/09 (126 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Some great set pieces

Disadvantages: Not as funny as Pixar / Disney

When it comes to animated films, I'm generally a fan of the ones that Disney Pixar produces, rather than those from the rival Dreamworks studio - give me 'Finding Nemo' over 'Sharks Tale' anyday! It's probably just me, but the Pixar stories seem to feature a greater attention to detail in terms of the animation, and a higher level of sophistication in the comedy.

The latest Dreamworks animated movie 'Monsters vs Aliens' is an intergalactic tale which was available to watch in the cinemas as a 3D viewing experience - this review focuses on the single disk regular DVD version.

The story centers on a young woman named Susan Murphy (voiced by Reese Witherspoon) who is accidentally transformed into a giant when a lump of intergalactic meteor lands upon her. Renamed 'Ginormica' and whisked off to a government containment facility, Susan realises that she's not the only unusual individual on the planet when she meets 'Dr Cockroach' (Hugh Laurie), 'Missing Link' (Will Arnett), and B.O.B (Seth Rogan).

When Earth is threatened by the evil 'Gallaxhar' (Rainn Wilson), our dysfunctional band of 'monsters' become Earth's last hope - but will they be able to stop the invading alien force...?

Now, for some reason, I assumed that Monsters vs Aliens was actually a Pixar production, and it gradually dawned on me that it wasn't, when the frequent jokes that peppered the first fifteen minutes of the film weren't as funny as I was expecting.

Monsters Vs Aliens goes straight for the jugular in terms of the special effects, and it's really obvious that the movie was optimised for a 3D audience - objects are thrust toward the viewer at any given opportunity which creates an impressive spectacle even without the benefit of the 3D glasses.

There are a variety of extremely nice looking set pieces used throughout the film, and the animation is certainly beautiful to look at. That said, the human characters look a little odd - and rather freakish perhaps - I would say that the ability to create a pleasing looking person is arguably an area where Pixar has the upper hand.

The story should appeal to kids and adults alike... good guys battling bad guys across a range of settings both on land and in the air - it's a tried and tested formula which we've seen countless times before, and here, there aren't that many surprises along the way to drag this alien tale above cinematic mediocrity.

The characters are a fairly likeable bunch, but there is generally too much of a reliance on fart and trip gags (which will nevertheless please the kids). There are some isolated scenes which are very funny however - the President trying to communicate with the alien space craft by playing the 'Close Encounters' tune, and then resorting to a full-on blast of the syth-tastic 'Beverly Hills Cop' theme 'Axel-F', is certainly worth looking out for. Unfortunately, these occasional flashes of genius are interspersed with very average comedy which doesn't quite cut the mustard.

The voice acting is top quality, and Reese Witherspoon is perfect as the understandably confused and upset woman who has massively increased in size. Seth Rogan provides a bit of comedy as B.O.B - a ball of indestructible goo who unfortunately doesn't have a brain, and Hugh Lawrie works well as the once human cockroach scientist with a PHD! You generally can't fault any of the performances, and all of the characters seem to have been well cast across the board.

All in all, Monsters vs Aliens is an entirely wacheable yet formulaic spectacle which offers nothing new to the genre of computer animated film. The visuals are great, but a sightly sloppy script and naïve screenplay means that the kids will perhaps enjoy this more than the adults - should have been better.

You can currently purchase Monsters vs Aliens on DVD for £7.98 from Amazon.

Lead Roles
- - - - - - -
Reese Witherspoon - Susan Murphy / Ginormica (voice)
Seth Rogen - B.O.B. (voice)
Hugh Laurie - Dr. Cockroach Ph.D. (voice)
Will Arnett - The Missing Link (voice)
Kiefer Sutherland - General W.R. Monger (voice)
Rainn Wilson - Gallaxhar (voice)
Stephen Colbert - President Hathaway (voice)

Summary: Alien animated tale