Being good while needing something to be very good isn't really bad !

Rating: Null/10 (8 June 2012)

They told me "Monsters vs. Aliens is bad". Bad is what that itself turned out to be after viewing this fun movie. How many elements do form its perfect fun? Let's see..
The casting. It's quite familiar criticism that what DreamWorks misses (in term of creative story, 3D,.. etc) compensates by assembling at random any stars walk in Hollywood streets. This round, everything clicked rightly with everyone. Reese Witherspoon as Susan - Ginormica - Murphy, Seth Rogen as B.O.B, Hugh Laurie as Dr. Cockroach, Will Arnett as The Missing Link, Kiefer Sutherland as General Monger, and Stephen Colbert as President Hathaway--represent, literally, great casting work. Originally, I'm not, by any chance, a Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rogen, or Will Arnett fan. In fact, you can call me the opposite of a "fan" as long as it concerns these guys. In any movie they do, whatever its defaults were, I used to see them as the WORST. So, it was such a mind-blowing surprise to find myself falling in love with their voices as those characters. I haven't thought that Witherspoon has that tender voice and wonderful performance, or that Rogen is that funny. Even Sutherland did one of his most memorable character I kid you not. Which leads to the next factor...
The writing. While mixing some of the 1950s cheap monsters movies, with the 1960s super spy vs. "I want to takeover the world" evil man movies, the script, so brilliantly, reproduces a cute, hot, and explosively comic version of (Seven Samurai), with a message too of "be yourself, no matter what they say" or "it doesn't matter what you look like, it's all about your heart". There is even a wicked pun in the title; where the monsters vs. aliens, and vs. being an actual aliens in their society as well. The movie is cracking. The best comedy DreamWorks ever made I presume. From the wacky characters, to the unbroken laughs, I had a mega-enjoyable time. The script has a one of a kind comic talent; just recall character like B.O.B with his involuntary personating; where he gets to be anybody's character passionately, or antics like President Hathaway's, or scenes like showing the way how the lead characters became monsters. It's all a creative entertainment.
The lines worked like a snappy punches: "As you can see, he has no brain. / Turns out, you don't need one. Totally overrated!", "I think that Jello gave me a fake phone number!", "I'm not looking to get married just to live in someone else's shadow, and you're casting a pretty big shadow!", "Once again, a UFO has landed in America, the only country UFOs ever seem to land in!", and "Dr. Cockroach, I would really appreciate it if you didn't do your mad scientist laugh!".
The direction made a top action sequences, like the fight over the bridge. The designers made dazzling interiors for the aliens' spaceship. The editing has a superb timing which's rarely found in the cartoon or 3D movies of today. And the references to, for instance, the arcade game (Dance Dance Revolution) at the try of shutting down the spaceship's electronic brain, or playing the theme song of (Close Encounters of the Third Kind) which was directed by DreamWork's owner Steven Spielberg, and Harold Faltermeyer's music of (Axel F) at the first encounter with the aliens. All of that worked for the benefit of this movie's clever mildness. I liked in specific the closing credits, which was designed a la Maurice Binder's moving shadows from James Bond movies. This is like a cinema's tribute to itself and us.
About the shortcomings, I thought that the evil man Gallaxhar, played by Rainn Wilson, was the least interesting character around, despite his importance to the story. All what he had to be distinguished by was 4 eyes in the face! Another flaw came from the idea of unleashing an army of Gallaxhar clones, while having another army of sure bigger and stronger robot probes! Gallaxhar was stupid; he could have owned the world with these giant probes. Even an idea like "He did that because he was stupid" wasn't used. And a correction: We don't wear turbans on our heads in Egypt as it was shown at the sequence of Gallaxhar's speech to the Earth's nations!
Now, the movie's major flaw, rather major letdown for many: the second act. It's short, laconic and disappointing. It has only 3 events: the fight with the probe, the party of Susan's new friends at her folks' home, and Susan's emotional shock due to her fiancé's reaction towards her transformation. On another level, that act didn't go through the lives of the rest of the monsters' team else Susan. Since these characters were lovely and rich, we wanted to have more of them, but it was official: Susan is the lead, and the rest are sidekicks. However, if they were more taken care of, this movie would have been more satisfied and satisfactory. Because these characters' storylines, even if made as short, could have diffused more affection and - why not - comedy to the final product.
Earlier I read about (Monsters vs. Aliens) something that went like this: "It's another DreamWorks big-budget CG feast of flash-in-the-pan celebrities and trite pop culture references". Though after watching it, I said: "Here's a triumph for DreamWorks, and a complete joy to us". Despite nearly missing an act in my viewpoint, DreamWorks DID IT this time. Frankly, where there're "creative" and "enjoyable" with "a message", it's hard to ask for more. Because when a good movie needs something to be very good; it doesn't mean that it is bad. On the contrary, it is a good movie already.