Monsters vs. Aliens

Susan Murphy is a young woman from Modesto, California who has her heart set on marrying the guy of her dreams. Her plans come to a screeching halt when a meteorite hits the earth and turns her into a towering titan with great strength. The United States government quickly captures her and keeps her hidden from the public. While in a secret government facility she meets five other “monsters” who have been dealt the same fate as her: protect the American people from really knowing that monsters exist. While Susan is trying to figure out how to return to her fiancée and her normal life, an evil alien named Gallaxhar has sent a giant probe to earth looking for the meteorite that caused her to change. As the probe begins to destroy anything in its path to find the stray meteorite the U.S. government starts a full scale assault to disable the alien probe. But when conventional weapons prove powerless to stop the alien probe, the government decides to call on the bizarre group of monsters to save the day. Little does anyone know that the meteorite carried with it a compound called quantonium to Earth. It was this compound that changed Susan into Ginormica and what the evil Gallaxhar is really looking for. With this special substance Gallaxhar can create an alien army to help him take over the planet and enslave the human race. When Gallaxhar comes to Earth to retrieve the quantonium himself, the monsters have to work together to keep humanity from being enslaved.

DreamWorks brought together many people from all different aspects of film-making to bring Monsters vs. Aliens to the silver screen. Director Rob Letterman, also known for Shark Tale, assembled a team of animators to tackle the job of keeping the proportions of regular human perspective to that of the size of Ginormica and the alien probe. A wonderful scene illustrating their success is when the alien probe razes the city of San Francisco looking for Ginormica and then the chase climaxes at the Golden Gate Bridge. The movie has some great fast paced action scenes as well as intimate and touching moments essential for building character. Monsters vs. Aliens is a hilarious adventure filled with lots of goodies for the kids and even a few for the adults. In the grand tradition of other hits like Shrek and Kung-Fu Panda, this movie is a perfect mixture of humor for the kids and the parents.

One of the most important parts of making a good animated feature is choosing the right actor to voice the character and therefore bring him or her to life. Reese Witherspoon is wonderful as Susan, a woman who not only goes through great physical changes but also changes emotionally. She is joined by Will Arnett who provides the voice for the Missing Link, an aging tough guy/fish who is a little out of practice. Seth Rogen is an absolute riot as the blob-like B.O.B. who is not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. The brainy Dr. Cockroach is voiced by Hugh Laurie whose British accent lends an heir of sophistication. Other notable voices are Kiefer Sutherland as General Monger, the Rambo-like overseer of the monster group. Rainn Wilson, from The Office, is the perfect as the evil yet not so smart alien tyrant Gallaxhar and Stephen Colbert is comedic perfection as the bumbling American President Hathaway. A smart story with monstrous characters that also have a touching human side makes Monsters vs. Aliens a perfect choice to entertain not only the children, but the adults as well.