804. Monsters vs. Aliens (2009)

Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rogen, Hugh Laurie

Director: Rob Letterman, Conrad Vernon

Running Time: 94 mins

Monsters vs. Aliens is an American film about a group of imprisoned monsters: a fishman, a blue jelly thing called BOB, a cockroach-man, an insecto-saurus, and a huge woman, who are called upon by the US government to defend Earth from an alien who threatens to colonise Earth for his own means.

I know this is a silly film, but it’s a lot of fun, and a good treat for all the family. It’s got a host of good voice performances, I laughed on a pretty constant basis, and it’s got quite an entertaining plot, and whilst I do realise that this film often thinks it’s a cleverer parody than it actually is, it’s a whole lot of fun.

I’ll start with one of the most underrated things about this film: the voice performances. Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rogen, Hugh Laurie and Will Arnett have got some really good chemistry behind the microphone, and they’re all a lot of fun at the same time, and they really make their characters a lot more entertaining and a lot less stupid than I expected.

In terms of the comedy, it’s pretty decent too. Of course, it’s all watered-down because this is a family film, but the majority of the jokes aren’t too dumb or weak, just simple and fun to laugh at. What’s more, there’s not a lot of ‘for the adults’ jokes thrown in here, which means it’s not as annoying as other family films often are.

The only issue with the comedy is that it does often try a little bit too hard to be a cool parody of monster/alien/disaster movies. There are a few adult-oriented jokes, and they normally fall flat on their face, while a lot of the parody gags never really fit into the film as you’d expect, however the slapstick and the rest of the silly humour is genuinely funny.

Finally, I really enjoyed this film’s story. Yes, it’s a parody, and not the greatest one, but if you take this not so much as a sci-fi or an action film, and just a comedy, then the light-hearted nature of the plot really shines through, and you can enjoy this film a whole lot more.

Overall, this gets a 7.4, because of its strong voice performances and story, coupled with decent comedy and successfully family-friendly feel.