8/2/2019 Monsters vs. Aliens movie review
1/2
Monsters vs. Aliens(2009)
You have to sort of give credit to a title that explains the
pitch behind a film, like
Giant Squid vs. Mega-shark or I Eat Your Face; at least the
filmmakers are beingright up front about what they feel the draw
is. In this case, obviously, its Monstersvs. Aliens, a mash-up of
everything a kid would love about the movies all rolled intoone big
colorful CGI romp. Or thats the theory.
MVA chiefly concerns itself with Susan Murphy (voiced by Reese
Witherspoon),who, on her wedding day, is pelted by a strange
meteorite that turns her fifty feettall (or more, its hard to
gauge) and imbues her with super-strength. Thegovernment swoops in
and, in a scene ripped from Gullivers Travels, ties her downand
takes her away to a facility where the other monsters live. Here we
meet Bob(Seth Rogen), a dim-witted amorphous blue mass with a
single eye (reminiscent ofBlue on Fosters Home); Link (Will
Arnett), a Creature from the Black Lagoonwannabe who is supposedly
the Missing Link; Dr. Cockroach (Hugh Laurie), who isfor all
intents and purposes the Brundlefly, with a bit more brains;
andInsectosaurus, a giant, vapid cross between a mole and some sort
of insect, whoroars with terrific volume but does little else other
than stand around and starevacantly. Susan is told that she will be
kept for safety purposes in a giganticgovernment facility/prison
for the rest of her days, with this group as her only
contact.
All this changes when weirdo four-eyed alien mad scientist
Galaxhar (Rainn Wilson)decides that he wants the substance from the
meteor that endowed Susan with herpowers, so he dispatches an
unbelievably large robot to capture her. Faced with
this threat (the Army can do nothing to the robot), the
President (Steven Colbert)opts to allow the monsters to give it a
try.
Yeah, theres the usual be yourself and accept your friends for
who they are, wartsand all message in the movie(which in itself is
not such a bad lesson), but its alsoa lot of fun. When the monsters
origins are revealed, you know exactly which 50shorror movie
villain he or she is supposed to be (or, for Dr. Cockroach, 80s
villain),and very little of the movie takes itself seriously. While
there are bright colors andfunny jokes for the kids, theres also a
lot of parody for adults to enjoy as well (myfavorite minor moment
comes when the President is on his way to contact the giantrobot
for the first time and in the background they are playing an
orchestral version
of the B-52s Planet Claire). MVA strikes the right balance of
being kid friendlyand not off-putting to adults. It never tries to
be much more than a silly adventurestory, but it succeeds at that
aim very well. The voice acting is all very good(mostly
celebrities, alas, though one general who serves as the head of
themonster program had me guessing through the whole film; I had to
watch thecredits to find out who voiced him) and the
light-heartedness of the story washesaway any potential logic
questions one might have (such as, how do they keepchanging Susans
clothes when shes asleep? And so on). Its nice light fun, well
worth your investment in the 90-minute run time.
