Well, it’s confirmed I’m seeing it tomorrow after church, so we’ll see how it goes.
Fun movie… the 3D aspect makes it good, and the voice acting as previously mentioned. Predictable, but some shots were beautiful animation. Yes, Kung Fu Panda was better, but there are a lot of funny parts and gags. Doesn’t have any resonance though. Zero heart. Just a smile.
I agree with the reviews so far. Some of the best and most awe-inspiring action setpieces you’ll ever see in an animated film (it is a monster movie after all), but the emotional core at the center is missing. There were glimpses of it [spoil]in Ginormica’s character arc from submissive bride to strong independent woman, and I liked the ‘alienation’ of the monsters from society (kind of like Hellboy 2), but they failed to develop on that.[/spoil]
It ended up pretty much like your run-of-the-mill big blockbuster action movie.
Oh, and great review and interview, One Movie, Five Views. Except there were only two views for the Art of book? 
Anyway, I’m a fan of those making-of coffee table books, so this looks like an interesting addition. Looking forward to your film review!
I copied and pasted this from the ‘about us’ on our website.
Essentially, due to time and coordination constraints with five writers, sometimes there are less than five reviews. Theatrical reviews always have five, DVD reviews do the majority of the time, but book reviews so far have been with just two reviews, and soundtrack reviews are usually with just one.
EVE,
One Movie, Five Views
… “change the terror level to Code Brown, because I need to check my pants”? Yep, zero heart.
It’s not like I’m going to put money for slapstick comedy films like Monsters Vs. Aliens to win an Oscar for Best Screenplay (adapted, in this case). It’s slapstick, but there are some days when you just want to watch something that is not mentally stimulating, and at times like those I turn to movies like this.
Wow, it came out? My, how time flies. I don’t think I’ll go see it in theaters…I’ll just wait for the DVD release.
It’s sad to hear this film is exactly what I expected it’d be. My hope was it’d be like Kung Fu Panda; I’d walk in expecting to get a few laughs and come out with my jaw hanging. Darn it, DreamWorks, you have it in you to be great.
Wow! I’m pretty sure that this will get a sequel, it made $58,200,000 and opened up in 4,104 theaters while Madagascar (which did get a sequel) made $47,224,594 and only opened in 4,142 theaters! that’s a $109,754,06 difference even though Madagascar opened in more theaters (only by 40).
I’ve seen some adverts on TV for this. It looks quite rubbish. Ergo, I’m not going to see it. Plus, the somewhat negative reviews are putting me off even more (if that’s possible).
Actually, the movie has received generally positive reviews (the LA Times liked it, looking at Box Office Mojo, it’s a majority As and some Bs). As I wrote in the other thread (I figured since most of the posts here were about it coming up, I’d start a new thread for reviews once it was out, but no problem)… anyway, as I wrote over there, it wasn’t too bad – and this coming from someone who has really hated DreamWorks’ other fare. Of course it’s not Pixar, it’s not “art”, but it’s simply a fun summertime movie (out in March). Don’t go in there expecting deep meaning – but at the same time, there wasn’t the junk and trash that usually clutters up most DreamWorks fare, and I have to say, I enjoyed it for what it was.
Just a comment:
Interstingly, it seems the marketing (at least in the US) for this movie has changed right as the movie was released. Before the movie came out, the marketing showed all the major characters (the whole team: Susan, BOB, the Missing Link, cockroach professor, etc) especially in tie-ins, like Office Depot’s ads. Now that the movie is out, all of the print advertising I’ve seen for the movie itself (not tie-ins) – all those full-page ads in the paper – show only BOB. A giant BOB. No one else, nothing else. No Susan. No Missing Link. No cockroach professor. Just BOB. And actually for myself, BOB was the least appealing character in the movie. So it makes me wonder… there must have been some research done showing they can attract more people by highlighting BOB – because it’s really obvious that they shifted the marketing from Susan and the team to just BOB. Susan’s the movie’s main character, and the other two side characters and villian are much more interesting than BOB (at least for me)… but all you see in the print movie ads is BOB! (as if 5yr-olds read the LA Times). Though for some reason both the LA Times and NY Times really liked the character of BOB. Go figure.
I wonder if the marketing is the same in other countries outside North America…
Question: for those of you who saw it in 3D, how much more was the 3D showing than a normal movie at the cinema where you saw it?
lizardgirl wrote: Ergo, I’m not going to see it
You know, Ergo would be the perfect name for a villain (or a villain’s henchman) in one of these movies…
I saw it (in 3D). It was a little better than I expected, but it still blew chunks. My main problems included the constantly changing pace (some scenes drag on while other, more important scenes fly by) and the useless characters (half of the main characters are just for comic relief and have little character development). The 3D was amazing though. There’s pretty much no reason to see this in 2D, because it’s a relatively uninteresting movie, despite a number of funny gags. The 3D is the best yet, and now I’m super excited for Up’s 3D.
I tried to go to the theater today to see it and all the showings were sold out! 
I really didn’t know it was that popular!
Meh, it was alright, at least for an animated film.
Although it’s seems a “bit” like the films DreamWorks usually makes when they’re out of ideas…but it wasn’t so bad.
We will be seeing this hopefully on Tuesday. Circumstances out of our control prevented us from seeing it early enough to meet our review deadline. I’ll let you all know what we think of DreamWorks’ newest effort then!
EVE,
One Movie, Five Views
Well, I managed to see Monsters Vs. Aliens today, and I feel (Considering this is a Pixar fan site) there will be a LOT of hate (From people who haven’t even seen the film to begin with?) towards this film simply because it’s from Dreamworks… One of Pixar’s biggest competition.
But as for me - a film fan in general, I’ll just give my honest thoughts towards the film with no bias for Pixar whatsoever.
I thought Monsters Vs. Aliens was really Good. That’s right, good. Not perfect, but still a very entertaining animated film to watch.
The visuals were absolutely stunning, and the action scenes were among some of the best I’ve seen in an animated film to date. Not to say this film was all flash and no substance… The main story was pretty good, but I think the times where the film wanted you to feel for the characters, mostly the first half of the film, did not deliver the best. This is simply because I felt the first half of the film was somewhat weak, with little to no character development for much of the monster characters. The way the monsters showed up was just so sudden, and then they’re sent on a mission. They were thrown out so fast I hardly knew anything about them to build up much of an emotional connection to. I think that’s why a lot of people say that the film lacked heart, and I can understand that. But I think the second half of the film things started to pick up much better, and I really got into the story and the characters at that time.
Anyways, I don’t want to get too into Monsters Vs. Aliens, so I don’t spoil it for you, but the core of the film was a technical marvel, and an entertaining comedy-action adventure. It’s not the best animated film ever, but it is certainly fun, and something I would recommend to any fan of animated, or would like to just see a good film fun for the whole family in general.
Dreamworks Animation has been getting better (Their last new IP film was Kung Fu Panda, and another success), so overall, I give Monster’s Vs. Aliens a 3.5 out of 5.
Probably. 
Ditto that.
That whole chunk of sentences, pretty much summed up my opinion on character development. Took the words right outta my mouth!
Same rating I gave for my magazine review.
I always thought of DreamWorks as the underperforming achiever.
Teacher hands DreamWorks his report card:
“You have potential son, only if you put your heart to it and stop messing around.”
I think the missing link and the Cockroach dude are really hard to market, but I do agreee that they should have done more with Susan. I mean, it’s Reese Witherspoon, for pete’s sake!!!
That’s quite an implication, that people who post here that didn’t like the movie are really just Dreamworks hating Pixar fanboys. You’re not saying that just because you disagree with us that we’re wrong, are you?
Sorry, even if I take Pixar out of the equation and just compare it to other Dreamworks movies, it doesn’t come close storywise.
I thought Kung Fu Panda, Over the Hedge, Shrek, and even Madagascar 2 were better and had more heart.
While it wasn’t horrible, this to me was the epitomy of slapping together a movie for the sake of new technology.
And while it wasn’t completely panned on RT.com (70%), if you actually read the positive reviews for it, a lot of them are saying the same thing. Funny at times, but no story, and the 3D carried it (I’m assuming, since I saw it in 2D).
E.S.,
If you saw Monsters Vs. Aliens and did not like it, you can rest. Everyone here who saw it and either liked it or disliked it can take a rest from my comment, because my previous comment was not directed towards you guys. I just said that because I’ve read a few posts on here already from people who express dislike towards the film without even seeing it, and I expect others will be like that.
I’m simply stating that because I don’t think it’s fair to debunk Dreamworks films, simply because… They’re Dreamworks. There surely are Pixar fanboys on this website who do just that. For me, I’m trying to break away from that norm and giving an honest opinion towards the film without having to compare it to Pixar. I just don’t understand what goes through some peoples’ minds for why if you like one company better than the other, the other one totally sucks and can’t be given a chance.
I have to agree with ES on the lack of a stronger story plot (Although I’m not sure whether he/she watched it. If you did, ES, then I guess we share the same opinion, huh?). I wished they had delved into each of the monster’s desires and fears. We pretty much know Susan’s, but it was a wasted opportunity not to explore the other three sidekicks (and even the villain, Gallaxhar) when so much screentime was wasted on lame juvenille slapstick and pratfalls.
Well said, I tried to keep an open mind when I’m viewing non-Pixar animated films (or any other movie for that matter). I try not to let other reviews cloud my judgement, and stand up for the underdog in some cases. For MvA, you have to give credit to some of the artists or animators who tried their best with a lousy script to give meaning to the film… and here, the writers at least tried to inject some pathos and depth to a few of the characters, unlike Bee Movie or Shark Tale.
IMO, it’s okay to make assumptions or observations on promos (like “I thought that joke from the trailer was lame”), but to denounce an entire movie or to even compare it to other films without watching it first, can be considered as condemning it before you’ve even given it the chance.
I was very suprised at how good this is. It was pretty funny too. I like when B.O.B. says [spoil] Hey guys look. Then he shoots Galaxar.[/spoil] my favorite thing about it was Reese witherspoons voice talent. This is the best voice in an animated film this year so far, and it probably will be. {Although Ed asner does a very good job. He might and probably will beat Reese out.} Some of the action scenes bored me, and I was sort of disapointed at some of the slapstick, some of it was funny though. After all I would give this about 2 3/4 to 3 stars out of four. 