Not Monstruous But Entertaining

Rating: 6/10 (29 March 2009)

The friendly folks from Dreamworks Animated Entertainment have pitched in yet another cartoon that shall satisfy both children and their parents. The only thing is that as I was watching the movie, there were a bit too many adult pop culture references that could go over a child's head. Yes, many modern animated movies are layered both for children and adults, but as I have discovered in the Pixar movies, the Disney animated studio, most of the layering is kept both at a child's and an adult's level by not throwing in too much pop culture to amuse the adults.
The premise of this recent flick is a group of mutated monsters, well, saving the world from alien attacks. There is always a reliable cast that gives voice to each character to match the personalities so you can think, "I know who's doing that voice." The heroine of the movie is Susan Murphy (voiced by Reese Witherspoon), a sweet and perky young California girl who is about to get married to an egotistical TV weatherman named Derek Dietl (voiced by Paul Rudd). Quicker than saying "I do," Susan, who was momentarily hit by a meteoroid, grows into a strong, near 50-foot mutant, stomping on grounds and pulling objects apart. She is taken by the feds to a monster prison run by the gung-ho and macho General W.R. Monger (voiced by Kiefer Sutherland). She meets and makes friends with four other mutated monsters held capture there for 50 years. They are the grunting half-insect, half-dinosaur Insectosaurus, the oozy, blue, one-eyed Bob (voiced by Seth Rogen), the fish monster Missing Link (voiced by Will Arnett), and the small insect mad scientist monster Dr. Cockroach (voiced by Hugh Laurie). As for Susan, one of the monsters dub her as Ginormica, although initially, Susan doesn't think of herself as a monster, but as a human being. Anyone familiar with the 1950s B-monster movies would guess which character the monster is being based on. Small children may not understand the movies their parents grew up on.
The monsters are all banded together and now the general, as well as the President of the United States (voiced by Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert), want to free the monsters from captivity. All the military talks are done in a war room run by the president in order to reference the 1964 classic "Dr. Strangelove" to keep the adults interested, but small children may not get that as well. To do that, they have to fight an alien ship. The attack starts in San Francisco (and the scenery of the city is amazingly drawn) and then moves to Susan's hometown of Modesto. In Modesto, Susan is taken aboard and goes face to face with an evil four-eyed alien with a pointy head named Gallaxhar (voiced by Rainn Wilson) and has armies of aliens who look like him to do battle. Three of the four monsters get on board to help Susan, temporarily back to her regular size, since Gallaxhar zapped Insectosaurus. In the end, the monsters defeat the aliens and Susan returns home with all of her friends to her family, now happier as a monster than as a human.
Most of the character development revolves around Susan/Ginormica. Despite her gigantic size, she's too perky to be frightening. All the other monsters are well-drawn but there is little depth to them in their development. Also, these monsters have personalities too benign to be scary. The humans in the movie, the General and the President, are drawn to look exactly like the actors voicing them to remind us who they are. But Gallaxhar is the scariest character in the entire movie because he and his armies are so evil. The animation and visuals are fantastic, and the actors, like in many Pixar/Dreamworks animated movies, lend fine vocal support. I don't think this movie will make animated history like "Finding Nemo," "Shrek," "Toy Story," or "Ratatouille," to name a few, but it is a sweet and genial escape, and the visuals are what make it worthwhile. It is shown in two versions  2D and 3D. Either way, it makes a pleasant outing. It is fun for the family, but it is rated PG for cartoon violence and a bit of crude humor and mild language.