Or "Monsters Vs Big Robot & Squid Thing"Monsters vs. Aliens has been heralded for months now by DreamWorks as one of their best pieces of work yet, with supposedly groundbreaking 3D animation, a comedic yet emotional script, and, as per usual for the studio, a huge and magnificent cast. Of these three claims of brilliance, only one remains true when viewers actually sit down and watch the movie, and that’s by far the cast list. Reese Witherspoon (well known for her roles in films like Penelope and The Importance of Being Earnest), Kiefer Sutherland (Jack Bauer in 24, here the human commander) and Hugh Laurie (best known for popular TV drama House), the big names of the flick, give their voices with an enthusiasm and eccentricity not usually seen in animated films, and even the lesser-known actors like Seth Rogen (who plays B.O.B, right) and Rainn Wilson (here portraying the antagonist Galaxhar) give excellent performances. Other than this, though, Monsters vs. Aliens is a fairly by-the-books romp, and one that certainly won’t have many cinema-goers coming back for more. It breaks no new territory, and what’s worse, at times will have watchers wishing that someone would just go ahead and crack a joke.
Trouble is, this isn’t the first time this has happened with a movie by any means. Only last summer, The Simpsons Movie was launched to colossal audiences in cinemas, after almost a year of promotional campaigns. As the film opened, all seemed well, with the traditional Simpsons jokes and fanfare clearly apparent, but, by the second half of the pic, the laughter was lost in favor of romantic and weird plot lines, thus ending one of the most anticipated films of all times with a mere sizzle, instead of the bang that everyone had expected. Sure, if there had been more gags and less dilly-dallying, the outcome might have been better, but in a way, it was the sheer amount of trailers that aired beforehand that became its downfalls. All the good jokes, like “Spider-Pig”, were shown repeatedly on television sets worldwide for weeks on end, so that, by the time fans rushed to see it, all the comedy vanished when the seemingly hilarious catch lines were said. This same problem plagues Monsters vs. Aliens, and hopefully it’ll now be clear to readers why this is so, and what to therefore expect when they watch the movie.
If this was the film’s only irritance, then perhaps it would be easier to forgive and enjoy MVA, but as it happens, there’s much more wrong with this than meets the eye. Another reason why viewers will love to hate the movie is through the terrible character evolution. The point of this genre of film is to see the main character (s) go through some emotional changes over the course of the running time, and even in The Simpsons Movie this happens to Homer, but not even one character gets a significant development in MVA. Ginormica (Reese Witherspoon), the centerpiece of the film, changes about as much as a rock left to stand on a table, and the Missing Link (Will Arnett), who early on complains about his lack of energy and how he was beaten by a girl, does nothing to make himself any stronger or more cunning, quite the opposite. Indeed, the only character any child will show any compassion for is the hugely cute and impressive (in more ways than one, see left) Insectosaurus. Forgive the spoiler, but during the middle part of MVA, the big guy is virtually killed off, leaving both the audience and characters disheartened. It’s a testament to how dull the film can get, in that viewers are becoming sadder over the death of a giant insect that cannot talk than they are over any pain the central characters receive. Surely it should be, say, when a giant girder hurtles towards the team of monsters that the audience should be most scared and worried (as hard as it is to believe it happening) for the fate of the animated world, and not when an insect who has barely done anything but walk around and growl dies suddenly? What is this world coming to?
The last niggle is in the storyline. It was not unexpected for DreamWorks to once again stick with their structure; it’s been set in stone for the studio’s line of films for years now. The story basically goes like this: main character lives a good life, wants to do something/go somewhere, trips up, then does something right, then loses all hope, then saves the day. It’s traditional DreamWorks stuff, and it’s never going to change. As Homer would say: “D’oh!”
As always, there are some saving graces, hence the not-so-terrible score below. The animation itself is brilliant, and while the 3D is still not at the heights of past efforts like Spy Kids 3: Game Over, it’s much improved over the recent 3D adaptation of Bolt (which was originally filmed in 2D, so didn’t work in the third dimension), as MVA was filmed in 3D right from the very beginning. Also, as already mentioned, the voice acting is all fine and good, and could easily be seen as the best part of the film.
The bottom line: should people go and see this? Well, if readers are amongst the few who have wisely waited for this review, then they should heed this warning: if they desperately want to see the film, then they can, but they should ensure they see the 2D version, simply because it’s cheaper and wastes less money. It’s times like these when it seems a good idea for DreamWorks to go back and re-watch the original, and by far the best in the series, Shrek, as, other than a few minor exceptions, none of their films after it have made even a chink on its armor!
3/5
Trouble is, this isn’t the first time this has happened with a movie by any means. Only last summer, The Simpsons Movie was launched to colossal audiences in cinemas, after almost a year of promotional campaigns. As the film opened, all seemed well, with the traditional Simpsons jokes and fanfare clearly apparent, but, by the second half of the pic, the laughter was lost in favor of romantic and weird plot lines, thus ending one of the most anticipated films of all times with a mere sizzle, instead of the bang that everyone had expected. Sure, if there had been more gags and less dilly-dallying, the outcome might have been better, but in a way, it was the sheer amount of trailers that aired beforehand that became its downfalls. All the good jokes, like “Spider-Pig”, were shown repeatedly on television sets worldwide for weeks on end, so that, by the time fans rushed to see it, all the comedy vanished when the seemingly hilarious catch lines were said. This same problem plagues Monsters vs. Aliens, and hopefully it’ll now be clear to readers why this is so, and what to therefore expect when they watch the movie.
If this was the film’s only irritance, then perhaps it would be easier to forgive and enjoy MVA, but as it happens, there’s much more wrong with this than meets the eye. Another reason why viewers will love to hate the movie is through the terrible character evolution. The point of this genre of film is to see the main character (s) go through some emotional changes over the course of the running time, and even in The Simpsons Movie this happens to Homer, but not even one character gets a significant development in MVA. Ginormica (Reese Witherspoon), the centerpiece of the film, changes about as much as a rock left to stand on a table, and the Missing Link (Will Arnett), who early on complains about his lack of energy and how he was beaten by a girl, does nothing to make himself any stronger or more cunning, quite the opposite. Indeed, the only character any child will show any compassion for is the hugely cute and impressive (in more ways than one, see left) Insectosaurus. Forgive the spoiler, but during the middle part of MVA, the big guy is virtually killed off, leaving both the audience and characters disheartened. It’s a testament to how dull the film can get, in that viewers are becoming sadder over the death of a giant insect that cannot talk than they are over any pain the central characters receive. Surely it should be, say, when a giant girder hurtles towards the team of monsters that the audience should be most scared and worried (as hard as it is to believe it happening) for the fate of the animated world, and not when an insect who has barely done anything but walk around and growl dies suddenly? What is this world coming to?
The last niggle is in the storyline. It was not unexpected for DreamWorks to once again stick with their structure; it’s been set in stone for the studio’s line of films for years now. The story basically goes like this: main character lives a good life, wants to do something/go somewhere, trips up, then does something right, then loses all hope, then saves the day. It’s traditional DreamWorks stuff, and it’s never going to change. As Homer would say: “D’oh!”
As always, there are some saving graces, hence the not-so-terrible score below. The animation itself is brilliant, and while the 3D is still not at the heights of past efforts like Spy Kids 3: Game Over, it’s much improved over the recent 3D adaptation of Bolt (which was originally filmed in 2D, so didn’t work in the third dimension), as MVA was filmed in 3D right from the very beginning. Also, as already mentioned, the voice acting is all fine and good, and could easily be seen as the best part of the film.
The bottom line: should people go and see this? Well, if readers are amongst the few who have wisely waited for this review, then they should heed this warning: if they desperately want to see the film, then they can, but they should ensure they see the 2D version, simply because it’s cheaper and wastes less money. It’s times like these when it seems a good idea for DreamWorks to go back and re-watch the original, and by far the best in the series, Shrek, as, other than a few minor exceptions, none of their films after it have made even a chink on its armor!
3/5
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