Tuesday 27 July 2010

Film Review: MONSTERS vs ALIENS (2009)


Directors: Rob Letterman & Conrad Vernon
Running time: 90 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): PG

UK release date: 3rd April 2009

Watched on DVD Tuesday 27th July 2010.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I usually really enjoy animated films and I remember when this one came out last year it had one or two good reviews. So I had some fairly high hopes when I popped the DVD into the player.

Outside the church on her wedding day, bride-to-be Susan Murphy gets struck by a meteorite. She looks dazed, but still makes it to the alter. While the ceremony is taking place she begins to grow… and grow… and grow until she is so big she takes the roof off the church. All of a sudden the military are there in numbers and they drug Susan and take her away to a secret government facility run by General W.R. Monger. Here she meets other monsters, B.O.B., who is a kind of blob, Dr. Cockroach Ph.D., a human/cockroach experiment that went wrong, The Missing Link, who was found in a glacier and the skyscraper-sized mutant larva Insectosaurus. She also gets told her monster name will be Ginormica. The monsters are soon called into action when an alien robot sent by Gallaxhar, a deranged alien overlord, lands on Earth. They defeat the robot only for Gallaxhar himself to come for the resource the robot failed to collect, a resource held by Susan. I think that’s enough spoilers for one day.

Quite a well made film with some neat animation, but we would expect nothing less from DreamWorks. The plot was okay with some nice jokes thrown in for the adult viewers. Decent performances from all the main cast, so honourable mentions go to the voice talents of; Reese Witherspoon as Susan Murphy / Ginormica, Seth Rogen as B.O.B., Hugh Laurie as Dr. Cockroach Ph.D., Will Arnett as The Missing Link, Kiefer Sutherland as General W.R. Monger and Rainn Wilson as Gallaxhar.

I guess I was slightly disappointed with this film, the script was ok but I just didn’t really care for any of the characters that much. There seems to be something lacking. Don’t get me wrong, the kids will love it, but I guess it’s just one of those films that just didn’t connect with me. Over all, for the younger viewer, recommended. For the adults, well maybe watch it once (under junior supervision).

My score: 5.8/10

LINKS:
IMDb Site: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0892782/
Official Site: http://www.monstersvsaliens.com/
Trailer: http://uk.imdb.com/rg/VIDEO_PLAY/LINK/video/imdb/vi2117665561/

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