DreamWorks new animated movie “Monsters vs. Aliens” had a ginormous opening this past weekend, and it’s not surprising why. The movie, offered in 2D and 3D, opened on Friday and pulled in more than $58 million, the highest grossing film of the year so far.
The movie is based around Susan, voiced by Reese Witherspoon, who gets hit by a meteor on her wedding day, making her grow to 49 feet tall. The government captures her, labels her a monster and renames her Ginormica. She’s kept in a secret facility that houses other monsters the government discovered.
While there, Ginormica meets Dr. Cockroach, voiced by “House” star Hugh Laurie, B.O.B., Missing Link and Insectosaurus. Together, they are asked to defeat aliens who are attacking Earth. Ginormica discovers her massive strength and is able to defeat the first robot alien. But she’ll have to rely on her monster friends to take on what’s next.
Opting for the 3D experience, which costs extra, I was expecting the typical 3D tricks of items thrown out of the screen. The beginning of the movie had a paddle ball jump out, which had movie-goers jumping back. But that’s where the tricks stopped.
It was a nice surprise to have a 3D movie not take an advantage to make a viewer jump. I try to save my jumping for horror movies. “Monsters vs. Aliens” was created more for a viewer to experience the movie. The three dimensions provide the movie a depth of field not normally experienced in an animated movie. It made me feel like it was less of a cartoon, and more of a film.
The story line itself was interesting to adults and kids. There were jokes that older people would probably understand easier than the younger viewers, but nothing inappropriate for any age.
The movie provided all the elements of a good animated, unlikely superhero-type story. It’s never a question who is going to come out the heroes of the story, but the film was never boring. There was constant action and an endless supply of humor. Of course they added the inspirational part, but it wasn’t overdone.
I would recommend the movie to people of all ages. I think the story is entertaining enough to see the 2D version, but viewers opting for the extra expense of 3D will not be disappointed. And they even give out a pair of cool 3D glasses.
