Monsters v Aliens
Review by Matthew Rodgers
Forget intergalactic beings from another dimension warring against monstrous misfits locked away Area 51 style on Earth. The real victory here comes with the three pronged success that DreamWorks achieves by making the best “non-Pixar, Pixar film” thus far, incorporating an immersive 3-D technique that works by being effective and not gimmicky (Journey to the Centre of the Earth, anyone?), and finally a script that not only delivers some amazing geek-fused one-liners but gets the best performance from Seth Rogan yet, although playing a CGI blob is hardly a stretch for the guffawing Apatow muse.
Hidden away in an underground government bunker are a menagerie of secret beings; B.O.B the blue blob (Rogan), Dr Cockroach (Hugh Laurie), The Missing Link (Will Arnett), and huge mutant larvae called Insectosaur. About to join them is bride-to-be Susan Murphy (Reese Witherspoon), a normal woman; she is inconveniently hit by a stray meteor on her wedding day, reluctantly her identity changes to that of 50ft woman, Ginormica, bad timing in anyone’s book but made worse by the fact that the world is about to be attacked by aliens.
Filmed in Real-D, or some jiggery-pokery of that name, Monsters V Aliens looks absolutely stunning, and we are talking fur on Sully stunning too. Getting the money shots of bouncing balls protruding from the screen out of the way early, directors Rob Letterman and Conrad Vernon then utilise the technology to enhance the simple B-movie story into an enchanting little cartoon universe. With so many 3-D movies slated for release in the next few years, MvA is the first to make the audience feel that its an integral part of the movie going experience, and that’s extremely promising for a method that has so far been confined to the annuls of time (JAWS 3-D) or fun, yet distracting visual device (Open Range).
That’s no fun if you only have one eye though, so what of the movie itself. The pace is relentless, the characters perfectly drawn, literally and metaphorically, and the voicework is exemplary. Keifer Sutherland as General W.R. Monger (geddit?) has some real fun with his hard-edged monster-keeper role, and anyone familiar with Will Arnett’s work on Arrested Development and Blades of Glory will find recognizable traits in his freaky fish man.
Animation is a genre that continually raises the bar, with each studio battling to improve technique, and in the wake of Pixars superb storytelling, their own narratives. Recently audiences have been spoilt with the likes of Bolt and the wonderful Waltz with Bashir, add MvA to that and we really are enjoying a second golden age that promises to give the girl “with hair black as ebony” and her seven little men a run for their money and prestige.
