Review: "Monsters vs Aliens"

Thanks to omy.sg, I had the opportunity to catch a preview of "Monsters vs Aliens" on Monday night. Unfortunately, due to last minute delays, I had missed the first 10 to 15 minutes of the film.

As a result, the film felt much shorter than expected. When the final credits came scrolling up, I realised that little more than an hour had passed. In fact, by the middle of the film, I had a funny feeling that this was going to be a short film.

Yes, it's animated. Yes, it uses modern computer graphics instead of the old animation cels. Yes, it's in 3D. And yes, it has some big name voices. But if those were budgetary excuses to make a short film, then I'm sorely disappointed.

But first, I have to say that watching a 3D film was quite an enjoyable experience! Firstly, the glasses provided by Cathay Cinema were quite well designed for comfort, even for a person wearing spectacles. And the 3D effects were very well done, especially in the battle scenes, when it felt like debris was being littered all over the cinema hall. The first time that happened, I nearly wanted to raise my hands to shield myself! Haha, that would've been a very suah ku moment.

Unfortunately, the 3D experience was just a glossy finish. With underdeveloped characters and a penchant for slapstick humour, especially embodied in the buffoon of a president, there wasn't much to like in "Monsters vs Aliens".

The story was a simple one: girl gets strange powers, girl is confined with other strange creatures, US government uses said creatures to defend Earth from an alien attack, girl embraces her powers and becomes a hero. But then, this is a kids' show, so the story has to be kept as simple as possible, you know, unlike that of an old man who flies his house UP to distant lands with balloons.

But then, my expectations had already been lowered even before watching the film, because this is a Dreamworks picture. To me, that meant that it wouldn't have the same level of enjoyment that I get from Pixar films. For some reason, Dreamworks cartoons have always seemed a bit more... adult.

I don't mean this in terms of the level of violence or language (and there's no on-screen nudity either, obviously). Rather, it's the type of jokes that were used. I felt that adults would have been better able to appreciate the funny moments than the children. Which is ironic, since "Monsters vs Aliens" is a cartoon, i.e. targeted at children. Sure, there are the usual sight gags, weird characters and odd body shapes. But those somehow just weren't funny or endearing enough to lift the film.

Here's a very telling anecdote: the adults and children in the audience laughed at different moments of the film. The adults enjoyed listening to the retro "Beverly Hills Cop" theme and caught the relationship jokes. But the kids laughed most loudly when a male character said the word "very" many times. Ideally, I think the filmmakers would want everyone to laugh at the same time and share the humorous moment together.

Or maybe I'm just wrong. After all, I'm an adult, what do I know about children entertainment? Maybe "Monsters vs Aliens" really is a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very enjoyable show for those in primary school.

Aside: this time, moviegoers not only got to keep the card stock movie ticket, but also a brochure on Cathay's 3D cinema experience and a set of "Monsters vs Aliens" stickers of Bob. Yay!



--