My Movie Review on Monsters vs Aliens
Greetings and salutations, my friends.
This is your top-of-the-line film, TV show, and episode reporter here with another review.
Today, for the second installment of my "Spook Spectacular" series, I'm gonna give you guys my take of Dreamworks's "Monsters vs. Aliens".
Here's the rundown of this adventure:
Soon to be married to weatherman Derek Dietl, Susan Murphy's life seems to undeniably getting better and better everyday.
However, when a meteorite from another planet arrives to Earth, it crashes right on top of Susan and causes her body to extract an alien substance called Quantonium from it. And when the extraction is done...it makes Susan grow into a giant human, becoming a monster to all who see her. Almost immediately, though, Susan is taken into custody by the U.S. military, and they later take her to a government prison facility where four other monsters are being kept: B.O.B., Missing Link, Dr. Cockroach, and Insectosaurus.
Due to being a monster, Susan is unable to leave the facility or see her family, friends, or fiancé ever again.
Meanwhile, an evil alien named Gallaxhar intends on conquering Earth. He just needs one thing to make his mission a reality and be unstoppable: Quantonium.
I realize that the synopsis I gave pretty much reveals what the movie's about in a nutshell, but rest assured...the movie's not as simple as I've likely made it sound. I originally intended on analyzing the movie last year, but because of time sneaking up on me I decided to review it this year instead.
Fun fact about this movie, really, is that it was something that I saw around the first time it was released in theaters. In 3D! I also saw multiple promotions for it on Nickelodeon, and they got me interested in seeing it because it looked like it'd be a lot of fun to watch.
And you know what?
Even today, I find it to be quite enjoyable.
For instance, the voice acting, casting, characters, and character development were stupendous!
One of the biggest things that I love about this movie is that while many of the casting choices were unusual among others, every performer fit their parts like they were born for them. Plus, they portrayed their characters with astounding personality, comedic-timings, and emotion; it sounded like the cast was having all the fun in the world being part of this movie too, and I can tell that they weren't afraid of ad-libbing to portray their characters with more flavor.
As honorable mentions, I'd like to say that Reese Witherspoon's performance as Susan was the one that I found to be the most emotionally-invested and full of heart, like she really was the character; the funniest and most scene-stealing of performances came from Seth Rogen as B.O.B. (whom I could tell obviously did the most ad-libbing for his character), Hugh Laurie as Dr. Cockroach, Will Arnett as Missing Link, Rainn Wilson as Gallaxhar, Kiefer Sutherland as General Warren R. Monger, and Stephen Colbert as the President of the United States.
The characters themselves had fantastic development, if I may add. Out of all the characters, it was Susan, Link, B.O.B., and Dr. Cockroach that grew the most.
The direction by Conrad Vernon and Rob Letterman, the story by them, and the screenplay by Letterman, Maya Forbes, Wallace Wolodarsky, Jonathan Aibel, and Glenn Berger were likewise wonderful.
As I watched the movie, I couldn't help but note that it would hardly rest itself from being comedic, and it was almost like the filmmakers were desperately pushing themselves in trying to make the movie as funny as possible. In my opinion, though, the filmmakers's efforts paid off really well, because I couldn't contain myself from laughing no matter what. Each and every joke was nicely-executed, and they all carried a genuine innocence that made them enjoyable to watch. Plus, the movie wasn't without heart, emotion, and morals that people who are coming of age could live by.
The animation was amazing, if I may add. I love how the directors and animators, using an update in technology, were able to creatively extend themselves and heighten Dreamworks's usual visual style up a notch, making the overall visualization something that was truly groundbreaking and full of realism. As a movie made in preparation for a 3D-viewing experience, I believe Dreamworks did a wonderful job at creating a film for that very purpose.
Finally, the music by Henry Jackman was marvelous. Aided by the involvement of Hans Zimmer as executive music producer, Jackman created music that fit the film's concept, genre, and sense of fun beautifully. Not only that, by the score contained a brilliant sense of feeling that helped the movie be far from lifeless. Out of all the animated Dreamworks films Jackman composed for, his work in "Monsters vs. Aliens" is perhaps the best I've seen by far.
In conclusion, "Monsters vs. Aliens" is an amazing animated feature, and it's not only one of Dreamworks's best films...it's one of their most underrated as well. The characters and vocal performances are splendid, the animation is astonishing, everything!
So, I rate "Monsters vs. Aliens" five out of five stars.
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