Monsters Vs Aliens
Review
by Anthony Morris
How good is that for a title?
Who wouldn't want to go see a movie where
monsters punch on with aliens? And it's in 3-D (in selected cinemas),
which only adds to the potential for extreme kick-assary.
But for those expecting some insane
manga-style 90 minute buffet of creature-on-creature insanity, be
warned: this doesn't quite live up to the promise of the title. In
fact, while the story is all about a battle between the US military's
stockpile of monsters and forces from another world (though strictly
there's only one alien - who fortunately happens to have a lot of
clones and robots handy), there's also a fair chunk of comedy going on.
Some of which works really well (especially Seth Rogen as the Blob and
Wil Arnett as the Missing Link), and some of which doesn't quite hit
the spot. On top of that, there's a subplot about Susan (the voice of
Reese Witherspoon), the newest monster on the team (a meteorite turned
her into a giantess on her wedding day) and how she's not exactly sure
that being a monster is going to work out for her.
So yes, there is a fair amount of monsters
battling aliens, but there's also a fair amount of scenes where the
monsters don't seem to be up to the job of
fighting aliens until they figure out how to work together as a team
and be there for each other and so on.
Which might have been great in a movie that
wasn't called Monsters vs Aliens, but here it just feels a teeny-tiny
bit like a distraction. But, as you'd expect by now, it's wonderfully
animated and remains a delight to watch throughout, while the action
scenes are consistently thrilling, the comedy sequences are packed with
sight gags and the quiet personal moments often feature striking
imagery.
So as far as school holiday movies go
Monsters vs Aliens easily leads the pack, and is a fine film by any
standards... except the one set by that kick-ass title.
3 out
of 5
Monsters
Vs Aliens
Australian release: 2nd Apr, 2009
Official
Site: Monsters Vs Aliens
Cast: Reese Witherspoon, Hugh
Laurie, Seth Rogen, Kiefer Sutherland, Paul Rudd, Will Arnett
Director: Conrad Vernon &
Rob Letterman
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