March 28, 2009
Review: Monsters vs. Aliens
Animation Finds Girl Power
Animation Finds Girl Power
Although I hear it's astounding, I didn't see the 3-D/IMAX version of this movie, nor am I a dyed-in-the-wool animation fiend. A friend and I were just looking for a fun movie and this seemed promising. We were not disappointed, and neither were the kids filling the rest of the theater.
The Missing Link, Ginormica, and B.O.B.
Susan Murphy (Reese Witherspoon) is a about to marry her dream man when she is hit by a mysterious meteor that makes her into a giant. She is whisked away to a secret government facility where monsters are kept. After being informed her name is now Ginormica, she has to accept her imprisonment with fellow monsters B.O.B. (Seth Rogen), The Missing Link (Will Arnett) and Dr. Cockroach (Hugh Laurie) despite her difficulty accepting that she is really a "monster." When the evil alien Gallaxhar (Rainn Wilson) attacks earth, however, the monsters are set free to save the world.
Dreamworks has a reputation for entertaining adults as well as kids (a la Shrek), and this movie is no exception. References to Close Encounters of the Third Kind and eighties music abound. Most surprisingly, there is lot of Dr. Strangelove here-you'll be astounded at how much Kiefer Sutherland's General W. R. Monger sounds like George C. Scott-as well as some modern political commentary (Stephen Colbert's pro-war President Hathaway, for example). And of course, if you're a monster movie fan, you'll get all the references to The Blob,The Creature from the Black Lagoon, Godzilla, and even The Thing.
The biggest innovation in this movie is its (fairly successful) attempt to be girl-friendly. Susan saves the world herself, rather than being saved by another. She also dumps her lousy, cowardly boyfriend Derek (wonderfully voiced by Paul Rudd) and finds out that it's OK to be strong, independent, and (gasp!) single. There are a few other deliberate gender reversals in the movie, and as such it's a nice antidote to Disney. On the other hand, Susan/Ginormica's proportions do fall a little on the Barbie-ish side-but even as a giantess, she's still not as distorted as most traditional cartoon women.
The supporting cast of monsters is just plain funny, as is to be expected with a talented cast like this one. Literally brainless but likeble B.O.B. must constantly be reminded who he is and how to breathe. The Missing Link is humorously macho, while Dr. Cockroach is an amusingly mad scientist. Rainn Wilson, too, gets a lot of chuckles from his evil alien role. These shenanigans keep the movie's pace moving quickly between plot points.
The movie is definitely worth seeing. The animation is amazing, and so real at times that I have to wonder if little ones will be a freaked out by seeing San Francisco destroyed by a robot, since they won't have the background to understand that this is a Godzilla commonplace. But perhaps I am out of touch with today's kids. Other than that caveat, I highly recommend the movie for kids and parents alike, especially since it has an effective girl-power message.
