There can be only one!
Added 11/22/2009
I didn't get around to watching this when it first came out in theatres, but was suprised at how good it was when I checked out the DVD. Dreamworks(creators of Shrek and Kung Fu Panda)did this as a comedic homage to the monster movies of the 50s.
Starting out, Susan was a blushing bride about to be married to her shallow weatherman boyfriend Derek, but a meteorite chrashes near her and dowses her with an outer space radiation called quantonium. She is then transformed into a white-haired giantess, and immeadiately accosted by the military, who apparently were expecting a giant to be there at the crashsite in the first place because they had large hypodermic needles to put her to sleep with. Susan wakes up in the secret government facility of Area 52 which houses other kinds of "monsters". The team consists of Bob the blob, the amphibious Missing Link, the insectoid mad scientist Dr. Cockroach, and the tremendous kaiju Insectosaurus. Things seem miserable for Susan(now called Ginormica), but the evil alien overlord Gallaxhar shows up in his starship and launches a giant robot loose on San Francisco. So the monsters are sent to stop the robot in exchange for their freedom. After an epic battle that wrecks the Golden Gate Bridge, they destroy the mecha, and Susan heads to her hometown along with her new monster buds to see her fiance. However, Derek breaks up with her, which makes Susan embrace her monsterhood. This would be nice, except that Gallaxhar kidnaps her to extract the quantonium from her to power his clone-making machine and invade Earth. Bob, Link, and Cockroach board the ship and find Susan who is now normal size after having the radiation sucked out of her. They manages to destroy the ship's computer, and Susan confronts Gallaxhar, which gets her cosmic mojo again, turning her back into a giant. They escape on Insectosaurus who is now a gargantuan butterfly. The monsters then agree to continue working with the military to defend Earth against other threats.
M.V.A. was a very enjoyable movie. The 3-D is applied wonderfully, unlike some other animated films. The story pays great attention to the Silver Age schlock creature features, both the stereotypical monster ones and flying saucer flicks. The casting was fine, although it was a little overboard with Stephen Colbert at the President, and they could've just had John DiMaggio doing the voice of Keifer Sutherland's character, General Monger. Like in most Dreamworks cartoons, there is alot of pop culture subreferences, although one of the genuinely good ones is the DDR session. There's already been an OVA prequal called BOB's Big Break, and a Halloween TV special, but knowing Dreamworks there's probably gonna be an actual movie sequal too. Definately seek out this monster mash!
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Great movie for all ages
Added 11/18/2009
This is a great movie - my kids (3, 6, 9) all enjoy watching it and my husband and I find it entertaining as well.
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Monsters vs. Aliens
Added 11/18/2009
What's not to love...total B Movie nostalgia brought to the 21st century. The kids love it, especially the "Suuuuussssan..." part.
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Monsters vs. Movies
Added 11/16/2009
When the government hides monsters in a bunker and the planet is suddenly under alien attack what should be done? Why, have the monsters fight the aliens of course! Such is the premise of this little movie.
Meet Susan who undergoes a drastic and alarming change on her wedding day - growing quite gigantic. Suddenly (very suddenly) she's captured by the military and wakes up in a strange place. It's the huge government bunker where all the monsters are kept. This was a problem I had with the movie - this bunker is HUGE and filled with technological marvels but through the movie we only see 5 monsters - where are all the other monsters to justify such space and expense? Granted they did have an invisible man at one point too and Insectosaurus is huge but still...
Some others are Dr. Cockroach (no further description needed), Link, or more formally Missing Link and Bob, a living food additive with no brain. They are a pretty charming and funny bunch and the movie is full of funny little snips of dialog and scenes. The President's attempts at communication with an alien probe alone had me cracking a big grin. And when the alien(s) arrive we're also treated to lots of smooth action and cool looking technology as well.
The main narrative follows Susan (or Ginormica) and there are the expected lessons of accepting people for who they are not what they look like but also a lesson about standing on your own and up for yourself and your friends - all good heart warm-y stuff. What the movie lacks though is any real plot.
You see, the alien(s) just show up looking for quantonium a super powerful element. A giant probe robot is dropped down and starts smashing stuff and the General just up and says the monsters should handle it. They've been in captivity for years except Ginormica, who's new, so I'm not sure what made him think the monsters were the best candidates and I'm not sure why the monsters should help (other than the carrot of freedom) and why they aren't just a bit more miffed at being held prisoner for just being who and what they are.
As to the alien's motivations for wanting to take over the Earth and kill everyone - forget about it. He just shows up. The movie even makes fun of this by having the alien attempt to explain but us missing half the conversation. I wasn't laughing. He was a threat, even for Ginormica and her giant strength but this lack of understanding his motives was annoying.
The voice work was uniformly good from Reese Witherspoon to Seth Rogan and the action was action packed and the laughs were plentiful but if you're looking for a lot of substance then you may need to look elsewhere. I feel 3 1/2 but there's enough good here that I'd feel bad rounding down so 4 it is.
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Ginormica's Excellent Adventure
Added 11/16/2009
Dreamworks really outdid themselves as an animator company with Monsters vs. Aliens, even (dare I say) on par with Pixar films!
I love it when the writers who do science fiction play homage to old monster films of the Fifties (The Blob, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, Mothra) and write a funny plot, a few insider jokes, and no sex or potty humor. Can it be done?
Yes, successfully. Susan is about to get married but somehow gets hit on the head with a meteor. A meteor that holds powerful energy that an alien wants for himself. She becomes 50 feet tall to learn what a jerk her groom is (a newscaster from Modesto, who is moving on to the big Fresno market).
Love the San Francisco-esque scenes, so realistic. Our cockroach mad scientist (al'a The Fly) hooks up a streetcar (to the Castro) with four rockets -- Man, I've never seen MUNI move so fast! (Local humor, sorry).
Susan's fighting the aliens, the giant robot crushing the Golden Gate Bridge, her returning of self confidence and wanting to help her friends communicates so many positive messages to kids who watch this.
Bob is the best. He is patterned after The Blob, can pop his eye in and out, absorbs food and falls in love with a dish of jello.
The DVD specials are interesting: Two "make-of" regarding 3D filming technology (wish I saw this in a 3D theater now) and some "deleted scenes" most of which are storyboarded with voiceovers. Dreamworks added the same thing to their other DVD on Madagascar, showing short songs of their earlier films. I skipped this, as I can only "move-it move-it" so much.
Nicely done package and a fun homage to old-time Sci-Fi. And don't miss the B52s and the Flying Purple People Eater music!
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There can be only one!
Added 11/23/2009
I didn't get around to watching this when it first came out in theatres, but was suprised at how good it was when I checked out the DVD. Dreamworks(creators of Shrek and Kung Fu Panda)did this as a comedic homage to the monster movies of the 50s.
Starting out, Susan was a blushing bride about to be married to her shallow weatherman boyfriend Derek, but a meteorite chrashes near her and dowses her with an outer space radiation called quantonium. She is then transformed into a white-haired giantess, and immeadiately accosted by the military, who apparently were expecting a giant to be there at the crashsite in the first place because they had large hypodermic needles to put her to sleep with. Susan wakes up in the secret government facility of Area 52 which houses other kinds of "monsters". The team consists of Bob the blob, the amphibious Missing Link, the insectoid mad scientist Dr. Cockroach, and the tremendous kaiju Insectosaurus. Things seem miserable for Susan(now called Ginormica), but the evil alien overlord Gallaxhar shows up in his starship and launches a giant robot loose on San Francisco. So the monsters are sent to stop the robot in exchange for their freedom. After an epic battle that wrecks the Golden Gate Bridge, they destroy the mecha, and Susan heads to her hometown along with her new monster buds to see her fiance. However, Derek breaks up with her, which makes Susan embrace her monsterhood. This would be nice, except that Gallaxhar kidnaps her to extract the quantonium from her to power his clone-making machine and invade Earth. Bob, Link, and Cockroach board the ship and find Susan who is now normal size after having the radiation sucked out of her. They manages to destroy the ship's computer, and Susan confronts Gallaxhar, which gets her cosmic mojo again, turning her back into a giant. They escape on Insectosaurus who is now a gargantuan butterfly. The monsters then agree to continue working with the military to defend Earth against other threats.
M.V.A. was a very enjoyable movie. The 3-D is applied wonderfully, unlike some other animated films. The story pays great attention to the Silver Age schlock creature features, both the stereotypical monster ones and flying saucer flicks. The casting was fine, although it was a little overboard with Stephen Colbert at the President, and they could've just had John DiMaggio doing the voice of Keifer Sutherland's character, General Monger. Like in most Dreamworks cartoons, there is alot of pop culture subreferences, although one of the genuinely good ones is the DDR session. There's already been an OVA prequal called BOB's Big Break, and a Halloween TV special, but knowing Dreamworks there's probably gonna be an actual movie sequal too. Definately seek out this monster mash!
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Great Movie
Added 11/18/2009
Fantastic movie for the whole family. Colorful and realistic, very human like, you don't feel you are watching a cartoon movie.
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Not just for kids
Added 11/16/2009
This has so many things that are not just for kids - it is a great movie and you get more things out of it every time you watch.
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