If aliens were to invade the planet, what would you do? There were several things you could do like run, fight, panic or make friends. Let’s say you were going to fight, how would you do it? You could shoot at them providing they cannot resist it, you could attempt to poison them providing they have cannot resist that either, or you could use as this film suggests Monsters. In my opinion that is a brilliant idea seeing as their track record for this thing is better than humans. I mean Gamera defeated Legion and Godzilla has fought, defeated destroyed several space monsters as well as spaceships on several occasions. So let’s see how the monsters suggested in this film get on.
In space a mysterious glowing object fly’s towards earth. Meanwhile a woman named Susan (Reese Witherspoon) is getting ready for her wedding. Before her wedding she sees her husband to be Derek who changes the honeymoon plans while Susan suppresses her disappointment (it was obvious from this point that this guy was an idiot). Before she goes in to get married Susan is hit by the mysterious object which stops glowing. She goes into the church and starts glowing herself, she gets bigger and bigger and ends up outside the church where the military are waiting and capture her. She is taken to a top-secret department headed up by W. R. Monger (Kiefer Sutherland). There she meets the other Monsters who have also been captured. A Half Human Half Cockroach mad scientist named Dr Cockroach (Hugh Laurie), The Missing Link, a 20,000 year old fish ape (Will Arnett), B.O.B. (or Bob) A genetically altered tomato mixed with ranch desert topping to create an indestructible gelatinous mass – with no brain (Seth Rogen) and finally Insectosaurus, a Giant Bug even bigger than Susan, and who looks rather cuddly (Unable to talk but is mysteriously played by Conrad Vernon).
Meanwhile a strange object lands near a romantic couple. The couple go and have a look at the site of the crash and are spotted by a giant eye. The military are brought in and the president (Stephen Colbert) arrives to have a look and attempt to make contact. While his keyboard skills create a response, the response involves the now identified alien robot smashing the keyboard. The robot goes on the loose and is resistant to all forms of firepower. The president and his team in a badly designed underground bunker try to find a solution. Monger arrives and gives his idea for a monster attack. The president agrees and so the Monsters are informed of what they will be doing and told that they will go free if successful. They then journey to San Francisco. Soon after arriving they are confronted by the robot, Bob gets stuck to it while Link swims into the city and Dr Cockroach messes around with a tam car. Susan escapes to the city where the giant robot takes an interest in her mainly because her power comes from the space object and the robot is sent by an alien who wants it. Susan is chased to the bridge when Insectosaurus turns up to battle the robot, however he gets confused by the bright eye light coming from the robot. Susan discovers her great strength and battles the robot and along with her new friends succeeds in destroying it. The alien who sent the robot plots a course for earth after the robot’s defeat.
Susan along with her new friends return to her home in Modesto to see her parents and Derek. Her parents put on a party for her friends while she goes to see Derek. After just a few minutes everyone at the party runs away. Meanwhile Derek breaks up with Susan because he cares more about his career than her. Susan and her friends leave the town and Susan realises that becoming a monster is the best thing that has happened to her. She is then abducted by the Alien and Insectosaurus is shot trying to save her. Susan wakes up wearing different clothes in the robot hangar deck of the alien spaceship. She is met by the alien who imprisons her, however she manages to escape and runs after him, only to be caught again and have the power within her drained bringing her back down to normal size. The alien named Gallaxhar (Rainn Wilson) tells of his traumatic life but is constantly interrupted by the cloning machine he is strapped to and then uses both the clone machine and the alien energy to build an army to invade the earth. Meanwhile back on the planet Insectosaurus is covered in a strange stringy material while the three other monsters decide to go aboard the alien spaceship to get Susan back with some help from Monger. They get on board, locate Susan and rescue her disguised (badly but somehow works due to the low intelligence of the aliens) as aliens. However the aliens discover that the three monsters really are monsters and go on the attack. The group break into the ships mainframe and thanks to Dr Cockroach’s PHD in dance manage to set the ship to self-destruct.
Susan manages to get out of the room before the main doors shut but the other three don’t. Susan goes to see Gallaxhar and manages to get her powers back and save her friends. They journey to the outside of the ship and are rescued by Monger and Insectosaurus who has turned into a butterfly. The group return to Modesto and are greeted as heroes. Susan gets revenge on Derek by flicking him into the sky before Bob breaks his fall (who also breaks up with him under the idea that he too is going out with Derek). The group of monsters then flies off to Paris to save the city.
It is interesting to see how many references there are to sci-fi, alien and monster movies. Before the alien robot arrives, the young couple were parodying several monster alien movies from the past. However this time it is the man who is scared and the woman is the stronger (both mentally and physically) character. The scene usually plays out as a young couple in a car getting romantic and then the monster/alien attacks. However the references continue when the alien pod lands which is similar in some way to The War of the Worlds. Then when the president arrives he tunes the keyboard to the tune played in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Other references to such films include secret underground headquarters (that must have cost a lot of money but don’t explain how) as well as the film’s soundtrack.
The films characters are a nice blend of both Odd and Interesting. The character of Susan is played nicely and brings in the sense of not knowing what’s going on, in a panic about where she is and the attempts she goes to, to be normal again. However in the end she embraces and accepts her new identity and makes some good while obviously odd friends. Dr. Cockroach is also well done and plays the part of more a mad scientist than a freak (his dancing scene is one of the best parts in the film, at least in my opinion). Bob is funny throughout while Missing Link is a very strong character in many ways and it does seem that he does not get enough scenes. But the real star for me is Insectosaurus. While not being able to talk, Insectosaurus looks Great (as well as cuddly) and his/her/it’s scenes are always a treat.
Gallaxhar is quite nicely made and a well written part and has some of the most amusing scenes in the films, mostly when the scene involves his clones. His life story is quite amusing too, because he keeps on getting interrupted by his cloning machine. From what I have been able to make out his story goes along the lines of him being born and finding out that his parents belonged to some political faction or alien religion and did not like it so he went on the road with some giant alien and either met another alien who he married or married the giant alien and was happy until she probably wanted to have alien children but he did not like the idea and somehow this led to him destroying his home planet.
But to me the best parts in the film belong to Monger and the President. The President is very funny as well as being a bit daft while trying to look clever. While Monger is very down to earth and serious. Mongers parts are not obvious, have a joke at him funny, it is funnier in the way he talks and what he says, while the president has humour thrown at him due to his actions. I would not really call this a Monster Movie as that would suggest that the all the monsters are Big; really there is only 2 that are taller than humans. However if I was to classify this film as a monster movie I may be right in thinking that this is the first CGI animated Monster Movie, but I classify this film more as an animated film though with Monsters in it. I just thought I would point that out.
Overall Monsters VS Aliens is a thoroughly Enjoyable film and one of the best CGI Animated films in recent years. With a Great cast of characters, great visuals and an amazingly funny story; Monsters VS Aliens is a definite must see.
GENEPOOL
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