Amusing animated valentine to '50s/'60s sci-fi/horror films; Witherspoon is a wonderful action heroine/giantess!

Rating: 9/10 (30 March 2009)

MONSTERS VS. ALIENS (2009) *** (VOICES OF: Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rogen, Hugh Laurie, Will Arnett, Kiefer Sutherland, Rainn Wilson, Stephen Colbert, Paul Rudd, Julie White, Jeffrey Tambor, Amy Poehler, Ed Helms, Renee Zellweger, John Krasinski). Amusing animated valentine (in 3-D yet!) to the classic sci-fi/horror films of the '50s and '60s featuring a gaggle of monsters led by sudden giantess Susan Murphy (plucky Witherspoon making a fine action heroine) AKA "Ginormica" enlisted by the secret cabal of the US government/military ala Area 51, to stop an alien invasion instigated by megalomaniacal space case Gallaxhar (Wilson, having a field day at his most unctuousness). Referencing everything from "ATTACK OF THE 50 FT. WOMAN" (aforementioned Susan, the giantess, whose really 49' 11"!) to "THE FLY" (Laurie's maniacal yet practical Dr. Cockroach) to "CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON" (Arnett as The Missing Link), and to "THE BLOB" (Rogen's mindless, shapeless moving mass of ectoplasm steals the film every time he's on screen), with other nods to "GODZILLA", "INDEPENDENCE DAY" and even "DR. STRANGELOVE", the film has the right tone and pace of a send-up/homage to the genres and the out-of-this-world 3-D effects blend rather seamlessly to the point you kind of take it for granted. Fun for the whole family and hopes for a MVA 2: GINORMICA'S RETURN! (DIRS: Rob Letterman and Conrad Vernon)