kids will find it to be like chocolate cotton candy in a silver platter. everyone else, it's a coin toss

Rating: 6/10 (12 April 2009)

As a critic, or perhaps would-be one most days, when facing a movie like Monsters vs Aliens it's about context: I can recommend this movie about as highly as possible to anyone under the age of 12, because frankly, the producers and writers tried their hardest (and maybe succeeded) to create this movie in a lab so that it would reach that audience to the maximum. It's got bright and colorful monsters with singular personalities that keep kids entertained, including Insectosaurus who looks like a cross between Totoro and Godzilla and never utters a word, and some of those goofy gags and occasional physical bits of business that, from what I could hear seeing the movie with a nicely sized crowd, did the job well.
As for everyone else- teens, young adults, kids' parents, the elderly, miscellaneous or other people I've forgotten to mention- it'll be hit or miss. This will depend on how many of these animated movies or sci-fi movie that the movie alludes to or just flagrantly rips off that tickle the funny bone. Sometimes, for me at least, they tried a little too hard. There's one joke in particular that is a perfect example, where the President (voiced by Stephen T. Colbert, who should be the best thing about the movie but isn't, a minor but significant disappointment) goes up to a keyboard to communicate with the aliens. This was funny if just for a moment because of the recognition of Close Encounters. It was a quick little gag that worked. But as though the filmmakers thought no one under the age of 20 would get it, they extended it, having the President go into playing a "funky" version of the Beverly Hills Cop theme by Herbie Hancock. It doesn't matter that kids probably wouldn't know it either. It just goes on too long and is too knowing of its goofiness to actually be funny after a while.
Again, this is for those who may actually get the references. For kids, this is silliness on an epic scale that will keep their jaws drooling with the laughs. At the least there's a very good voice cast assembled- aside from fairly straightforward leads like Reese Witherspoon there's Seth Rogen and Hugh Laurie as monsters and Rainn Wilson as the evil alien set to make clones of him/itself to take over Earth- and it does have wonderful animation. Following soon after Dreamworks' success last year with Kung fu Panda they kick it up another notch in terms of the quality of its style, its detail (even a burger, yes a burger, shown early in the picture is fairly incredible), and in how it whips along from one cool sight to another. If eye candy is your thing, this is the thing for the, uh, month I guess (I actually bucked the trend and saw it in 2D, and it didn't seem to lose much of its "umph" in the regular format).
Everything works on that surface level, but then when it comes to the characters and plot, whatever there is of it, it falls into some predictable things, or just ideas and motions that seem too familiar even as goofy homage. As comedy it doesn't come anywhere near Dreamworks' first big hits with Antz and Shrek, and as all-around entertainment it's a split decision. Parents wont be bored entirely, but they'll be the ones tugging their kids arms to see Pixar's Up! following the trailer more than the other way around.