Monsters Vs. Aliens: Review By MovieBuff

This animated 3D feature is quite a likeable film, but it is NOT a Finding Nemo, Toy Story, Shrek, or The Incredibles. This film will do what it is meant to do… make a lot of money by hypnotizing young children to force their parents to take them to see the film. They will… and they will laugh and be entertained. Then they will go home and two months from now will forget this movie even exists.

These movies have become a dime a dozen the past few years. There are so many that they‘re actually hard to keep track of. Unless it’s a story that is unique like The Incredibles or Finding Nemo, it will get lost in the shuffle. Hell, we have two or three more of these coming “Up“ this year. Get it? There is Up, Astro Boy, 69, and a couple more. With so many, the movie really needs to stand out for the audience to remember it. Unfortunately, this one doesn‘t.

Actually, I thought the movie was going to be pretty good. The set up was just about perfect. We had the mysterious Area 51 being hinted at and all these famous monsters as well. There was the Creature From the Black Lagoon (Missing Link), the Blob (BOB), The Fly (Dr. C*ckroach), Mothra – one of Godzilla's enemies (Insectosaurus) and the 50 foot Woman (Ginormica/Susan). One may have wondered where the Giant Killer Tomato or the Invisible Man were.

Anyway, like I said, the movie was enjoyable. Monsters versus Aliens is sometimes funny and sometimes interesting, but mostly the story is dull. The main character Susan (Reese Witherspoon) has this whole back story, but really we never care about it. Much of her story is just recycled from 100 movies that have come before and is very predictable. Another of the monsters, however, flat out steals the show. It’s the character most of the kids want to see after getting a glimpse of him in the trailers and that would be BOB (voiced by Seth Rogen). He is incredibly dumb but also fantastically funny and the most interesting of all the monsters.

It’s the 3D experience that will actually make this movie successful. There's really only one obvious 3D "gag" very early in the movie, but the rest of the film concentrates more on details. You will be in awe when you see it.

I am not up to writing a full length review on this film as I find it overbearing. It actually feels like I’ve written plenty of reviews on animated films, so I will shorten it up and come to my conclusion. The action and funny lines are very nice while the 3D is top notch. The kids will enjoy it and the adults will be slightly entertained. This is a movie definitely worth seeing if you can see it in 3D form. In 2D, I only give it a very mild recommendation.