MONSTERS VS ALIENS
US, 2009, 95 minutes, Colour.
Voices of: Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rogan, Hugh Laurie, Will Arnett, Kiefer Sutherland, Rainn Wilson, Stephen Colbert, Paul Rudd, Julie White, Jeffrey Tambor, Amy Poehler, Renee Zellweger, John Krasinski.
Directed by Rob Letterman and Conrad Vernon.
It sounds like one of those old (very old) B -Budget science fiction movies from the 1950s – and basic plot-wise it is more or less the same. But, budget-wise, it is very, very different. This is a brightly animated entertainment for the family, sharply drawn with a colourful production design and filmed in 3D. Not that the 3D is essential. Apart from a worker in Antarctica batting a ball into our faces, the main effect of the 3D is the beauty and eerieness of outer space.
The monsters are near-relatives of Monsters Inc, so to speak. There is a huge but benign insect monster who turns into a butterfly. There is The Missing Link, a genial kind of cross between a fish and a comedian. There is Dr Cockroach who was a top scientist, experimented on himself and exited from his machine as a mad-scientist-cockroach. Then there is a genial globule blob of what looks like blue jelly with one eye, B.O.B.. And their voices are very good indeed: Will Arnett as Link, Hugh Laurie, very British as Dr Cockroach and Seth Rogen being, well, Seth Rogen as B.O.B. (who has most of the funny lines).
But the intrepid heroine is Susan, voiced by Reese Witherspoon, who is engaged to self-centred local TV News Anchor, Derek (voiced by Paul Rudd), but who, just before her wedding, witnesses a meteor crash and absorbs a powerful chemical that turns her into the 50 ft woman. US Security demands that she be impounded in the Monster Centre with Link and co. The installation is run by macho, red-neck General Monger (and Kiefer Sutherland sounds as if he had a really good time voicing him). When an alien spaceship arrives and rebuffs the US President (Stephen Colbert) who tries to play the tune from Close Encounters as a wewlcome, General Monger urges the government to use the Monsters to combat Galaxhar (Rainn Wilson), the egocentric alien commander.
The rest of the film shows the antics and adventures of the Monsters in confronting Galaxhar and (would you believe it!) winning.
It's not the best of recent animation comedies and 3D shows, but it is lightly entertaining.
1.A popular animation film? Drawing on the B-budget science fiction films of the past? Audience enjoyment of this kind of science fiction fantasy?
2.The film photographed in 3-D, the effect, the vistas of space, the action sequences, the characters? The atmospheric score for the adventure?
3.The title and expectations? The humorous perspective?
4.Susan, her wedding day, her girlfriends, her dominating mother, her kindly father? Derek and his ambitions? Talking with her before the wedding, breaking the news about his audition instead of a honeymoon? Her acceptance of this? Her going for the walk, the meteor landing, the effect on her, the dirty dress, her mother’s concern? In the church, going up the aisle, the ceremony about to begin, her transforming into Ginormica? Her concern? The reaction of all the guests?
5.Her being captured, General Monger, from the South, macho, military? Her being imprisoned? His centre for monsters? General Monger and the secrecy about the monsters? His long caring for them? B.O.B. and his being a jelly blob? Doctor Cockroach and the background of his transformation from a scientist into a cockroach, the mad scientist? The appearance of The Missing Link? The giant insect? Susan and her interaction with the monsters, her fear, attacking them?
6.General Monger explaining the situation to Susan, her being trapped, the way of life? His explanation of his centre, the staff, their reactions? Her upset at having to stay for the rest of her life?
7.Gallaxhar and his ruling his planet, destroying everyone? Relying on robots? His wanting the secret ingredients? Realising that it was centred in Susan? His voyage through space, landing in the United States?
8.The president, the spoof on presidents? His big talk? His designing the buttons – and the danger of pressing the nuclear button? His advisers? General Monger and his advice? The landing of the spaceship? His going out, the guards, the stairway, his going up the stairs to confront the visitors, the theme from Close Encounters, the music? The reaction of Gallaxhar and his hurried escape? His plans for attacking? The military, the planes? His own fears?
9.Gallaxhar, his looking for Susan? General Monger and his deciding that the monsters would defeat the aliens? The president listening, his agreement? The group, their bonding? Susan and her change of heart, her encounter and Derek and discovering the truth about him and his selfishness and ambitions? Her parents? B.O.B. and his imagining that Derek liked him? The group going through the American roads? The confrontation with the spaceship] and the robot?
10.Gallaxhar, taking the monsters, imprisoning them? His getting Susan, on the spaceship? Her defiance, her self-confidence, her fighting Gallaxhar? His withdrawing the substance from her and her coming back to normal size? The sympathy of the monsters, her wanting to stay with them?
11.The action sequences, the group and their confrontation of Gallaxhar? B.O.B. and his being mobile and able to draw them up into the spaceship? The humorous devices, the chase? Gallaxhar and his cloning his forces? The monsters in their disguise, getting the gun? Getting advice?
12.The abandoning of the spaceship, Gallaxhar and his being trapped, the insect and its transforming into a butterfly? General Monger to the rescue? The escape? The spaceship blowing up – after the computer had the delayed mistake?
13.The comedy of Katie and Cuthbert and their dating, Katie as forward, Cuthbert resisting, the sports jock, the landing of the spacecraft, Katie and her adventurousness, Cuthbert and his fear, her carrying him and his being intimidated?
14.The happy reunion, the press, Derek wanting an interview, the monsters getting rid of him? B.O.B’s disillusionment with Derek? The parents being proud of Susan?
15.A genial story? The play on the old science fiction and fantasy films?
