Monsters VS Aliens: Everything Old Is New Again

I thought it might be difficult to come up with an image for my review of Monsters VS Aliens but then I realized I had not ONE but TWO really good choices, Alien Leaves (one of the first fractal images I ever created) and Monster Eye. In the end I finally chose Monster Eye because, like the movie, it was more colorful and just plain more fun! SO--on with the review!
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With Monsters VS Aliens everything old is refreshingly new again! In this delightful animated feature 1950s “Monster” movies are given a magnificent update with eye-popping colors, magnificent drawing and perfect voice casting to make it the first “must see” family film of 2009.
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The plot is pretty basic. It begins when bride-to-be Susan (voiced by perky Reese Witherspoon) is about to marry egotistical Weatherman-on-the-rise Derek (Paul Rudd) when a meteor lands on her and causes her to become 50 feet tall. She’s (of course) captured and hauled of to monster jail under the charge of General W.R. Monger (get the pun?) in a fully over-the-top voiceover by Kiefer Sutherland. She meets brainless B.O.B. the Blob (Seth Rogen in a more family-friendly version of the characters he plays in Judd Apatow movies), “Mad” Scientist Dr. Cockroach (Hugh Laurie--holding nothing back in a decidedly non-British fashion) Insectasaurus (basically a gigantic caterpillar) and “lounge lizard” the Missing Link (Rainn Wilson). When an alien robot invades the United States and the military can’t stop them the President (Stephen Colbert) sets the monsters on it in return for their freedom. When the robot fails alien conqueror Galaxar (Will Arnet) comes in for the final battle.
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Will Susan mold the Monsters into a fearsome fighting force to defeat the alien? Will she finally realize she has a destiny beyond Derek? Will General W.R. Monger soften his heart and actually learn to respect the creatures he’s been holding prisoner for half a century? You can probably guess the answers. (It IS a family film after all!) Still, the film is funny enough for adults to enjoy (with a lot of jokes that’ll go right over the kiddies heads but nothing that will leave them behind) and enough action to please the most die-hard adventure junkie. There’s even a nice “female empowerment” message that you don’t get in a lot of animated films.
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Monsters VS Aliens really IS the first “must see” family film of 2009. Grab the kids and head out to the theater. I understand it’s even better in “Three-D” (we saw it in the regular format because we’re cheap) Check it out--then go buy the DVD!
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FINAL GRADE: A+