Genre: CG Animation
Director: Rob Letterman, Conrad Vernon
Cast: Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rogen, Hugh Laurie, Will Arnett, Rainn Wilson, Stephen Colbert, Kiefer Sutherland, Paul Rudd
RunTime: 1 hr 34 mins
Released By: UIP
Rating: PG
Official Website: http://www.monstersvsaliens.com/

Opening Day: 28 May 2009

Synopsis:

When a space capsule crash lands onto Susan Reynold’s car she’s doused by its alien liquid contents, Quantonium which turn her into a 48 foot 11 inch giant.  Her wedding thwarted, she’s captured by the military and sent to a secret government facility, where she meets fellow monsters Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D., the gelatinous BOB, The Missing Link, and Insectosaurus.  Susan, aka Ginormica, is drafted to lead this motley crew of reluctant heroes to save the earth from the evil alien Gallaxhar.

Movie Review:

It's a funny thing that this movie poster slap a reminder that this film is coming from the makers of Shrek and Kungfu Panda as this film is anything but close to the league of those two funny animations from Dreamworks. Shrek 1 and 2 brought us riotous humour when it merge classic fairy tales and characters together while Kungfu Panda dug out the essence of old kungfu genre. Monsters Vs. Aliens tried to follow suit by bringing back various B grade characters from the monsters and alien genre films but failed to hit all the high notes that it's predecessors had achieved.

But then again, while it's not that great, it isn't that bad either. It just felt like a very average summer blockbuster animation that targeting the kids. On one hand, it has good morale education that educates the young female viewers on self empowerment and not overly relies on others for their future and happiness. On the other hand, it does it in such a predictable and monotonous manner that felt rather tiresome.

The film premise had the untapped Shrek-like potential when it uses some of the iconic characters such as the 50 Foot Woman, the Blob and that insect scientist The Fly (which they mutated it into a cockroach instead) and iconic events from these two genres (such as communicating with the aliens via the use of music / Close Encounters of the Third Kind). However the mix mesh here felt tiresome and lacks that playful witty spontaneous sparks which Shrek and Kungfu Panda had provided. It's seems that the directors basically follows the recipe for making a generic "self discovering and learning to be confident of one self" type of film but somehow didn't add that all so special ingredient.

The characters also felt very one dimensional and some of the iconic events that had been inserted didn't blend in that well. It was fun to spot where this movie had gotten it's inspiration but it didn't flow with the story narration well and often stood out like a sore thumb or tourist attraction. The likability between the characters and actors also vary within likeable, bland to irritating. At times, the viewers will sympathize with the monsters as the public deem them as horrifying creatures. At times, the things they does felt so uninspired that's there are really nothing to engage with the viewers and finally at times the characters could get rather irritating while they tried to be too cutesy (probably pandering to the kids)

Based on the reaction of the preview crowd, the jokes / gags factors in this film weren't getting a big reaction from the audience. The kids in the same cinema hall were often heard repeating the dialogues from the show as though it was cool, funny or witty. The adults are generally quiet with a few giggles now and then, which wasn't the case when with the audience that watched Shrek 1 ,2 and Kungfu Panda.

Lastly, Monsters vs. Aliens will be presented in 3D format and personally, the 3D effects did very little to make this movie any better. It added depth of field but other than that, it did very little to push the limits or exemplify the power of 3D film watching. Personally the 3D effects created minor headache for me, causing my eyes to tear up and missed the good old 2D format. Film wise, although Monsters vs. Aliens tried to pay homage to the old aliens and monsters flick, it simply lacks the sparks and pale in comparison with Kungfu Panda when it comes to capturing and exemplify the essence of those old classic.

Movie Rating:


(Targeted at kids. Had a few funny moments but it's definitely not in Shrek or Kungfu Panda league)

Review by Richard Lim Jr