April 8, 2009

3-D adventure ‘Monsters vs. Aliens’ celebrates teamwork and friendship

By John Mulderig

NEW YORK (CNS)—Seth Rogen and Rainn Wilson are the standouts in the powerhouse ensemble of voice talent behind the affable animated 3-D comedy-adventure “Monsters vs. Aliens” (Paramount).

Rogen plays a sweetly naive blob creature known as B.O.B. (short for the fanciful formula “benzoate-ostylezene-bicarbonate”), one of the quartet of kindly monsters who ultimately do battle with Wilson’s urbane alien villain, Galaxhar.

Joining B.O.B. in this crusade, commissioned by the president himself (voice of political humorist Stephen Colbert), are mad scientist Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D. (his character sports an insect head, and he’s voiced by Hugh Laurie of “House”); the Missing Link (voice of Will Arnett), a sort of ape-fish combo; and heroine Susan Murphy (voice of Reese Witherspoon).

As the opening scenes recount, the once-ordinary Susan became a five-story-tall giant after being struck by a meteor on her wedding day. Tied up and sedated by the military, she wakes up in a secret facility for sequestering monsters and quickly bonds with her three fellow detainees. The center is run by gung-ho Gen. W.R. Monger (voice of Kiefer Sutherland).

When the wickedly egotistical Galaxhar, whose Grinch-like head is joined to octopus-style tentacles, threatens to slaughter earth’s entire population with an army of clones made in his image, Susan and her chums are released from captivity and charged with saving humanity.

As she discovers her own heroic potential, Susan becomes disenchanted with her self-centered weatherman fiance, Derek Dietl (voice of Paul Rudd).

Co-directors Rob Letterman and Conrad Vernon create a lavish 3-D homage to 1950s-era, sci-fi B-movies. The screenplay—written by Letterman, Maya Forbes, Wally Wolodarsky, Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger from a story by Letterman and Vernon—celebrates teamwork and friendship as well as Susan’s newfound self-confidence.
Along with such inspired moments as B.O.B. flirting with some molded Jell-O, there are a few touches of mildly off-color humor, and the action violence, though moderate, might be too frightening for the smallest kids.

“Monsters vs. Aliens” will be shown on both Imax and conventional screens.

The film contains moderate action violence and a bit of vaguely sexual and slightly crude humor. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-II—adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG—parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

John Mulderig is on the staff of the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. More reviews are available online at usccb.org/movies.