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 In cinemas Thursday [PG]
Director: Rob Letterman
Runtime: 94mins
While part of me wishes this was a film about the uneven battle between Sulley and Mike of Monsters Inc. and the xenomorphs of James Cameron’s Aliens, it’s actually another sub-Pixar effort from Dreamworks Animation division. I say ‘sub-Pixar’ only in that Dreamworks outings like Kung Fu Panda and the Shrek films seem to lack the story substance of their Pixar counterparts. They haven’t made a Wall-E or The Incredibles yet, and while Monsters Vs. Aliens is certainly a visual treat – aided impressively by new 3D technology that will have kids and adults alike hypnotised for the full 94 minutes – on the narrative side it’s still something of a letdown, trading in easy clichés and one-dimensional characters.
Reese Witherspoon voices bride-to-be Susan Murphy, who has an unexpected run-in with an alien artefact on her wedding day – one that somewhat disrupts nuptials with her ambitious weatherman groom Derek (Paul Rudd) by causing her to grow to 49 feet. Now deemed a ‘monster’, she finds herself locked up in a government facility with Dr Cockroach (Hugh Laurie) – the result of a Fly-style experiment gone wrong; B.O.B. (Seth Rogen) – a (semi) sentient one-eyed blob; the Missing Link (Will Arnett) – a fitness-obsessed fish-man; and Insectasaurus – a humongous wall-eyed kaiju caterpillar-thing.
The appearance of self-obsessed galactic overlord Gallaxhar (Rainn Wilson) on the scene – who threatens to enslave the earth, etc, etc – allows the monsters some freedom to become earth’s defenders, even though most humans want nothing to do with them. Battles with giant robots and alien clones ensue, Susan (now known as Ginormica) deals with her relationship issues – mainly so at least one character has a recognisable story arc – and you can pretty much guess how it all works out for the once-feared monsters.
While there are plenty of eye-popping moments with some excellent actions scenes and great character design, the plot is tissue thin and the monster characters are barely there. B.O.B. gets to be the dopey comic relief and Susan learns self-worth, but even by kids’ film standards there’s not a lot of depth here. Five screenwriters are credited with the script, but it appears the multiple cooks have only diluted the broth (the kitchen, however, looks amazing, if you follow the metaphor). That said, the person responsible for scripting Stephen Colbert’s supporting role as the US President deserves kudos, as a scene in which he attempts to communicate with a giant alien war machine by playing Axel F on a synthesizer is a genuine crack-up.
Overall it’s lighthearted kids fun that earns an extra star for the animation design and inspired used of advanced 3D. Now they have the ‘look’ right, let’s just hope Dreamworks start putting more effort into their stories.
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TOPHER HEALY
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