Monsters vs. Aliens 2009

Ben Lyons, At the Movies: Monsters Vs Aliens made me feel like a big kid again. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Pilfering everything from Mothra to Attack of the 50 Foot Woman to Men in Black and Monsters, Inc. the script piles on the mayhem and forgets the funny. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: The super-duper-3-D-big-screen-Imax-deluxe extravaganza that is Monsters vs. Aliens has bells and whistles, superb technical sophistication and dazzling visual effects, sound, fury and Reese Witherspoon. What it doesn't have is heart. Read more

Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader: Children won't get the references to atomic-age monster movies, but the film offers more than nostalgia: there are slyly funny performances by Seth Rogen as an omnivorous blue blob and Stephen Colbert as the U.S. president. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: The biggest battle in Monsters vs. Aliens is banality vs. originality, and banality carries the day. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Do see this movie in 3-D if you can, and don't hesitate to send the kids; there's just enough silly humor to keep them happy. Read more

Tasha Robinson, AV Club: It's lively and even dazzling, but it's also more than willing to lazily distract its audience rather than trying anything new. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Don't overthink Monsters vs. Aliens. Just enjoy it. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: The latest computer-animated production from DreamWorks is a perfectly acceptable family movie. Read more

Amy Nicholson, Boxoffice Magazine: By the DVD release -- and definitely by next year -- audiences will demand more effort than everyone at DreamWorks (excluding the animators) seems willing to exert. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: True, the story doesn't amount to much, but the plot tends to take a back seat when you've got a not-quite-50-foot version of Reese Witherspoon duking it out with a mighty alien robot alongside the Golden Gate Bridge. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: It's an affectionate, fairly funny riff on 1950s sci-fi movies, which often featured aliens, sometimes in the form of gelatinous glop, trying to take over Earth before earthlings, usually of the military variety, save the day. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: As willfully chock-full of the familiar as the animated feature is, it's also a hoot. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: A big, silly spoof of an animated film, fast and funny and visually dazzling. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Monsters vs. Aliens sacrifices soul and edge for safety and bland blue goo. Read more

Christine Champ, Film.com: Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: "Nice" is the adjective that seems to surface most in trying to pin down the film's most salient quality, which means that while the film is enjoyable enough, it is unlikely to become a classic for us, or a Shrek sort of franchise for DreamWorks. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: Monsters vs. Aliens may lack a bit of heart, but it more than compensates with intelligent humor. Read more

Anthony Lane, New Yorker: As I took off my gray-lensed 3-D spectacles at the end of Monsters vs. Aliens, I felt not so much immersed as fuzzy with exhaustion. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: The 3-D animation, occasional gross-out jokes and way-cool beasties and robots play to every 10-year-old, chronological or just in spirit. Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR: Directors Rob Letterman and Conrad Vernon push so hard for three-dimensionality that they basically have their animators putting sightlines before storylines. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: While it has a crisp 3-D look and nice vocal performances, this action-comedy will seem fresh only to 8-year-olds -- though it may give parents an excuse to introduce some of the '50s horror movies it parodies. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Heavily touted as an industry breakthrough for 3-D, DreamWorks Animation's clunky and wildly unimaginative Monsters vs. Aliens really doesn't have a clue what to do with the technique. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: A highly competent, smartly engineered delivery system for the very cliches it pretends to subvert. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: The action scenes are downright thrilling, the storytelling is brisk and witty, the homages to alien and monster movies funny and affectionate. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: An amalgam of the vintage sci-fier Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman and Pixar's Monsters Inc., Monsters vs. Aliens is a goofy computer-animated romp that works just fine in the traditional moviegoing format. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Sure, the film is sweet and harmless but, take away the 3D, and all you're left with is a generic kids' movie. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Monsters vs. Aliens is possibly the most commercial title of the year. How can you resist such a premise, especially if it's in 3-D animation? Very readily, in my case. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: An animated funhouse that delivers on its title and ups its scary-comic impact if you see it in 3-D. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: MvA isn't, and isn't pretending to be, as ambitious a project as Pixar's almost universally lauded Wall-E was. But does it have to feel like something that's just rolled off a conveyor belt, made according to an exacting but dull set of specifications? Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: The cool stuff -- like 3-D and collapsing bridges -- may get filmmakers halfway there, but to make it all the way home, they need the usual movie elements, like a good story and vivid characters, and here Monsters vs. Aliens comes up short. Read more

Jessica Winter, Slate: The multilayered picture tends to have a gently immersive effect, akin to a stroll through the world's most expensive diorama. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: I don't think there are any characters here that a child would love. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Shooting a chaotic action scene in an extra dimension definitely adds to the clutter, but does zilch to subtract from the tedium. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: This film has hidden depths, especially for adults who mistakenly think Monsters vs. Aliens is only for kids. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: The DreamWorkers can be satisfied with having produced another crowd-pleasing, expert-babysitting vaudeville turn. Read more

Keith Uhlich, Time Out: Read more

Derek Adams, Time Out: Monsters vs Aliens is skilfully animated and spasmodically funny, but you get the impression the film's seven (!) writers ran out of ideas two-thirds of the way through. Read more

Christopher Orr, The New Republic: At the altar... Susan sprouts to just under 50 feet tall, taking out the church roof and steeple in the process. Next time, raise higher the roof beam, carpenters. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Three-dimensional sequences, whether animated or live action, can feel more gimmicky than integral to the tale. Happily, such is not the case with the entertaining Monsters vs. Aliens. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: A host of minor issues, none of them too debilitating on its own, combine to create a feeling of moderate underachievement. Read more

Robert Wilonsky, Village Voice: The grandeur of the effects -- the honest-to-God spectacle of the thing -- elevates Monsters vs. Aliens to something approaching art. It's not a masterpiece, but it's most certainly a milestone. Read more