The latest adage out there claims Dreamworks Animation builds their movies around an unusual situation while Pixar Animation builds their movies around a character. While that may or may not be generally true, “Monsters vs. Aliens 3D” is a movie which supports that claim. While the film has an exciting premise and great promise, it only partially delivers what the audience wants to see. We get the explosions, the monster on alien battles, the frequent use of 3D technology, and the slapstick style humor. What we don’t get is character depth, any unanticipated story developments, a real threat to the characters, or consistently funny moments to hold an adult‘s attention between the action. While “Monsters vs. Aliens 3D” will mildly entertain audiences, it will not leave a lasting impression beyond the theater.
The story centers on a normal woman named Susan Murphy (voiced by Reese Witherspoon) who is preparing for her wedding to egocentric weatherman Derek. A glowing meteorite falls to earth and infects her, causing Susan to grow into a giant; reminiscent of the 50 foot woman from the old 1950s horror movies. She is captured by the government and detained with other monsters. These creatures include: Dr. Cockroach, a mad scientist with the head of a cockroach; B.O.B., the gelatinous blob; Insectosauraus, a giant irradiated bug; and the Missing Link, a half fish, half ape. When a robot probe from another world is sent searching for the meteorite, the United States must protect itself from this alien threat. When all else fails, President Hathaway (Stephen Colbert) turns to the monster option.
When the robot probe arrives on Earth, the movie cleverly pokes fun at close encounters in sci-fi past. The President causes much of the humor in the film, as he handles the E.T. situation in his own goofy, embarrassingly brazen manner. Instead of boring the audience with an authority figure explaining the narrative, the film let’s the president be part of the joke.
The monsters are interesting in their own ways. The film decided to go with post-atomic age monsters like the blob and the creature from the black lagoon rather than the classic werewolves and vampires. Susan is the main character and receives immediate sympathy from the audience for her plight and a few laughs for how she adapts to her new situation. B.O.B. (Seth Rogan; “Zack and Miri”) receives the most chuckles because of his tendency to get easily confused by all bits of new information. The blob character dispatches obstacles by consuming and dissolving them, which is pretty cool to watch. The other monsters don’t get completely developed, which is a shame because they each appear to have interesting quirks.
The problems with “Monsters vs. Aliens 3D” ultimately lands at the feet of the underdeveloped plot. The reason the villainous alien comes to Earth is paper thin. It is simply a poorly explained plot device to bring a violent, technology-savvy alien into conflict with us earthlings. Let the big explosions and epic battles ensue. More egregiously, the alien Gallaxhar is a mediocre villain without any good lines or note-worthy motivations. It was just as important in this story to develop the villain as the heroes especially since the “aliens” are the second half of the reason people showed up to see the movie. Every time Gallaxhar appears on screen his stale performance and lack of a compelling viewpoint stops the stories momentum. His threat to the planet is so general that the audience will likely forget why the big battles are necessary in the first place.
While the 3D aspect of the film is enjoyable to experience, the movie could have been so much better if the characters were also three dimensional. There would be more opportunities for situational humor and less of a reliance on “falling down” laughs. “Monsters vs. Aliens 3D” does no more than the minimum to get its story across, leaving audiences only entertained just enough.
Rated PG for sci-fi action, some crude humor and mild language.
Rated PG-13
