It desn't do much in the way of satire, but is still a fluffy and fun affair.

Rating: 6/10 (14 July 2018)

'Monsters vs. Aliens (2009)' doesn't actually do all that much in the way of satire, especially considering it barely touches the wealth of parody-esque possibilities its central conceit should theoretically provide. It does use its archetypal 'monster' characters rather well, though, and clearly has a love for the genre it attempts to ape, no matter how successfully it does so on the whole. This leads to a light, fluffy but fun affair that heads in a predictable direction but gets there mostly intact. The animation is the rubbery, slightly off-putting but equally inventive post-'Madagascar (2005)' stuff that came about when Dreamworks settled into its groove and pumped out more filler than it knew what to do with, though the actual movie it brings to life is on the middling to better end of that second-rate pile. I'm the end, however, there's also a sense that the piece doesn't know quite what it should be or what it can get away with. 6/10