Monsters vs. Aliens: It Ain’t No Kung Fu Panda
This Dreamworks cartoon is as disposable as late-night sketch comedy.
I was hoping Monsters vs. Aliens might be a documentary about the American Trial Lawyers Association vs. the Taliban. Maybe both sides would get wiped out? However, it turns out the movie is a cartoon about a gelatinous blue blob, a brainy cockroach, a fish-man, and an oafish grub, all of whom are being held prisoner at a secret government hideaway (”this place is an X-File wrapped in a cover-up and deep fried in a conspiracy.”) They are joined by a bride, who, when she encounters a radioactive meteorite, turns into an ungainly 50-foot feminist. Picture a sexy Janet Reno. Okay, that’s asking too much.
The bride (voiced by Reese Witherspoon) is the least interesting of the monsters, yet has the central role as the zanier creatures befriend her while defending the earth against an alien invasion led by a four-eyed squid called Gallaxhar (the superb Rainn Wilson of The Office), who reassures the earthlings, “Just to recap — I come in peace. I mean you no harm, and you all will die.”
This DreamWorks film more or less continues a pattern: Pixar movies are (usually) classics, whereas DreamWorks movies drop lots of allusions to classics. Funny sequences like a riff on the alien-attracting melody in Close Encounters of the Third Kind keep things entertaining but also give the movie the disposability of late-night sketch comedy. This uneven comedy is a cute but routine spoof of flying saucer movies loaded with pop culture references (”Oh, spaceballs!” is one exclamation of woe). More than a few of the jokes are labored: “The earth’s getting warmer? It would be great to know that. It would be a very convenient truth.”
Monsters vs. Aliens doesn’t meet the standards of recent cartoon features like last year’s Kung Fu Panda and it’s far short of more grownup animated fare like Ratatouille, but it has plenty of roaring action scenes. When an alien robot probe attacks San Francisco, the 50-foot woman sticks her feet in a couple of convertibles and uses them as roller skates. Scenes like these are designed to please the kiddies, especially those who see the film at one of the many theaters offering it in 3-D (an effect that requires bulky glasses handed to you at the door).
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Kyle Smith is a film critic for the the New York Post. His website is at www.kylesmithonline.com.
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6 Comments
1. eon:Still, it’s refreshing to have someone (the main bad guy) who is so honest about his definition of “peace”.
“I will establish peace- by disposing of everybody else, because I’m the only one who matters.”
clear ether
eon
Mar 27, 2009 - 7:48 am 2. Frank:I’m a fan of Arnett, Rudd, Colbert, Wilson, Rogan, Rudd, Sutherland and Laurie. Holy crap I may actually go see this movie
Mar 27, 2009 - 11:38 am 3. Horace Wells:Wow, this is a cartoon made for children, what were you expecting?
Mar 27, 2009 - 1:38 pm 4. GONDES:Nice info,thanks
Mar 27, 2009 - 7:02 pm 5. Forlourned:What a scathing review. It does make me feel that my dollars will be flushed down a drain if I went to it.
And then I get to the end and see this…
3 STARs…out of FOUR?!
THREE STARS.
Mar 28, 2009 - 8:15 pm 6. Zaps:Out of FOUR…What the hell? This here reviewer must be lost somewhat.
Saw this movie with my kids, it was great. Coincidentally, the self-centered, resource-grabbing antagonist alien looks similar to a well-known political figure.
Mar 29, 2009 - 4:49 pm