When aliens attack, monsters fight back!

Rating: 7/10 (6 January 2013)

What a great slogan to a rather unexpected project from Dreamworks animation studio. I have to admit that I was thrilled by the overall concept and while it's not the first time monsters battled aliens for control of the planet, this was a nice twist and a great tribute to classic 50s creature features.
Plot: Susan Murphy (Reese Witherspoon) was about to be married to the dashing reporter Derek when she was stuck by a meteorite full of an unknown but powerful energy, causing her to grow to nearly fifty feet in height. Somehow deemed a monster by the government and renamed as Ginormica, the poor girl gets locked away in a secret facility with other monstrous misfits; macho fish-ape Missing Link (Will Arnett), mad scientist Dr. Cockroach (Hugh Laurie), indestructible and gelatinous B.O.B. (Seth Rogen), and the 350 foot grub Insectosaurus. When the evil alien Gallaxhar (Riann Wilson) attacks the earth with giant robots and an army of clones, General W.R. Monger (Kiefer Sutherland) convinces the president (Stephen Colbert) to let the monsters loose to defend the earth from this outer space menace in return for their freedom.
The cast was a lot of fun as they all fit very well with their roles like Hugh Laurie as the intelligent Dr. Cockroach (reminiscent of House) and Seth Rogen as the fun-loving but dim-witted B.O.B. Reese's character Susan a.k.a. Ginormica was a great heroine (as well as easy on the eyes) and was developed surprisingly well and and Will Arnett's Missing Link was also pretty cool, plus Insectosaurus is one of the coolest and cutest monsters I've ever seen. General Monger was awesome as he's afraid of no one and takes no nonsense. Finally, Gallaxhar was a good villain and actually has typical alien characteristics (big head, tentacles, etc). Riann Wilson did a good job bringing out his delightfully despicable nature.
The graphics look great right down to the finest detail, then again Dreamworks always brings out some good animation. The comedy made me laugh a good number of times as the jokes range from a little slapstick to references to classic sci-fi films. Heck, the monsters and aliens themselves are funny little parodies to those films like The Fly, The Blob, Mothra, The Day the Earth Stood Still, the list goes on. The action scenes, while not as grand as Kung Fu panda or Disney's The Incredibles, are pretty good, utilizing the abilities of each monster pretty well and bringing a sense of adventure to the movie.
There are a couple of bones to pick here. One is that it seemed that the film put more emphasis on comedy then action, which kinda disappointed me, after all this is called Monsters vs Aliens so you would think that there'd be tons of action like The Incredibles. On another note, I felt that some characters where heavily underused and not able to reach their full potential, particularly Insectosaurus and General Monger.
The complaints I have here are noticeable, but they don't stop me from enjoying this movie and they shouldn't bother you either. Overall, this was a fun tribute to classic science fiction and very entertaining. Definitely worth a watch, so check it out!