?Monsters vs. Aliens?
D: Rob Letterman, Conrad Vernon
S: Voices of Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rogen, Hugh Laurie, Paul Rudd and Kiefer Sutherland
IF YOU enjoyed watching ?Kung Fu Panda? and the ?Shrek? films, there?s more irreverent fun and adorable outcasts to be had in DreamWorks? latest animated triumph, ?Monsters vs. Aliens,? which opens in theaters next week (March 27):
After a meteorite from outer space hits the meek and unassertive Susan Murphy (voiced by Reese Witherspoon) on her wedding day and turns her into an invincible 49-foot-11-inch giant, she suddenly finds herself locked up?and renamed Ginormica?by the grizzled General WR Monger (Kiefer Sutherland) in a covert government facility that houses monsters and mutants.
These deformed creatures may look wicked and ferocious, but they?re not really the sinister baddies they?re perceived to be. Unfortunately, their metahuman-like powers present a danger to the powerless mortals of the outside world.
Experiment
Susan?s prisonmates: The brilliant Dr. Cockroach (Hugh Laurie), a mad scientist who has been transformed into a human-dictyopteran hybrid following a groundbreaking experiment gone awry; The Missing Link, a 20,000-year-old fish-man frozen during his evolutionary transition in the Ice Age, only to be thawed and trapped by the military when he returns to his lagoon, which is now a posh resort;
There?s also ravenously gelatinous and unapologetically brainless B.O.B. (Seth Rogen), who?s a cross between a genetically altered tomato and a chemically adjusted dessert topping, and the 350-foot baby grub, Insectosaurus, who was captured while teething on a skyscraper in Tokyo.
When Monger gets wind of the catastrophic plans of the alien humanoid squid, Gallaxhar (Rainn Wilson), the seasoned military tactician convinces US President Hathaway (Stephen Colbert) to utilize his ?powerful prisoners? as Earth?s last line of defense against the four-eyed extraterrestrial invader and his 350-foot robot, not to mention millions of his tentacled cohorts (a la ?Attack of the Clones?).
Gallaxhar is a bulbous-headed megalomaniac who intends to decimate Earth?s cluelessly quarrelsome inhabitants and build a utopian world on our planet populated by clones of himself, but he can only do this if he gets hold of quantonium, the most powerful substance in the universe, which has been detected in...well, just watch the movie.
Technology
Letterman and Vernon?s collaboration benefits from the latest InTru 3D technology: It?s the first computer-animated movie produced in stereoscopic 3D (most films are converted into the 3D format only after they?re finished), even without those uncomfortable goggles. The result is a more immersive and interactive viewing experience, sans the imperfections of the old format: No ghosting and image blurs. Moreover, the film?s intersecting plotlines manage to do away with useless exposition, and this keeps its pacing fast and concise.
The color palette the animators use effectively conjures up images of suburban 1950s, giving the film a more homey and intimate look?particularly in a hilarious scene that features two lovers on a date, in which the woman (voiced by Renée Zellweger in an outstanding cameo) is the more aggressive partner. Watch out also for the pulse-pounding, Monsters-versus-Aliens confrontation on San Francisco Bay?s Golden Gate Bridge?and that?s just halfway through the movie!
But, ?Monsters vs. Aliens? would not have worked as well as it did if not for the topnotch performances of Witherspoon, Sutherland and company. Reese?s characterization embodies the confusion and dilemma of the subservient woman who finds empowerment after she realizes that, in the case of her ambitious and vain TV weatherman fiancé, Derek Dietl (Paul Rudd), not all that glitters is gold.
And, the film?s ?outcasts can save the world? message is as timely as ever: Racial diversity and our individual differences are an opportunity to celebrate the uniqueness of the human race.
