A Little Disappointing

Rating: 6/10 (25 June 2009)

Out of a scale of 1-10...
Animation: 9. The CGI by DreamWorks is very well done. Graphics of the military fighting the alien robot that landed on Earth and the interior of the alien spaceship were some of the highlights. DreamWorks did a great job raising its level of CGI animation ever since Shrek.
Characters: 6. Susan's character development throughout the whole movie proved to be sensible and easy to follow and understand. Susan goes through stages of self-realization as she starts to find out her role and what she must let go in order to move on to greater purposes. However, the other characters did not really help in the plot other than Dr. Cockroach, who does have some purpose in his role as a mastermind and Susan's mentor. There was not much difference between the characters of B.O.B. and the Missing Link. They were cool ideas for two different characters thrown into the movie, but the script writers did not care to add unique personalities to each of them. Susan's fiancé was very one dimensional and predictable, and his one-way downward relationship with Susan was expected.
Plot: 7. The movie story really helped to follow the adventures of Susan and how she starts to find her identity as a monster. There were parts of the plot in the beginning and the ending which really hurt the flow. In the beginning, the president attempting to communicate to the alien robot really only served as a reference to overly heard pieces of pop culture and no other useful purpose. The end when Susan finally broke off her relationship with her fiancé was very abrupt and feels like a speed bump to the plot.
Theme: 4. The idea of all the monsters as a family really did not go smoothly. It failed to capture the essence of it. Although it is recognizable how they teamed up to fight evil, it was all that served as the foundation for the idea of family. There was a lack of depth and development happening in the relationships among the monsters. The idea of a monster family thrown in your face instead of being explained thoroughly.
Overall score: 6