The Ultimate Match-up

Movies in 3-D, unlike “fetch,” are happening, and Monsters vs. Aliens is the latest animated release to use the special effect to draw in a crowd, and I have to say that the technology, while fantastic, doesn’t impress me much.

I find the use of 3-D as gimmicky, to be quite honest.

And it seems most productions use the effect a lot in the beginning of the movie, and then just faze it out, then use it again a little more. Or perhaps I’m wrong and my eyes just get used to it after while. Whatever. The point is I really don’t think 3-D enriches the movie…the story…and that’s the case in Monsters vs. Aliens.

It’s a take-it-or-leave-it situation, if you will. And I’d be more inclined to pass on it, especially because those glasses you have to wear aren’t too comfortable.

Having said that, allow me to hop off this train of thought by noting that, yes, Monsters vs. Aliens is a fun, good-looking movie – but it need not have masked its shortcomings with anything other than broader appeal. This one, I thought, really catered a bit more to kids only than to kids and adult like, say, Shrek or anything from the Pixar/Disney vault.

Anyway, the movie starts with Susan Murphy (voiced by Reese Witherspoon), a sunny California girl who is clobbered by a meteor full of outer space gunk on her wedding day, the effects of which manifest during the ceremony when she mysteriously grows to 49 feet 11 inches tall.

Alerted to the threat of this new monster, the military jumps into action and Susan is captured and taken to a covert government compound where she is renamed Ginormica.

Placed in confinement with a ragtag group of other monsters – including the brilliant but insect-headed Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D. (Hugh Laurie of TV’s House); the macho half-ape, half-fish Missing Link (Will Arnett of TV’s Arrested Development); the gelatinous and indestructible B.O.B. (Seth Rogen); and the 350-foot grub called Insectosaurus – Ginormica’s seclusion is cut short, however, when a mysterious alien robot lands on Earth and begins storming the country.

In a moment of desperation, the POTUS is persuaded by Gen. W.R. Monger (Kiefer Sutherland) to enlist the motley crew of Monsters to fight the Alien threat, and save the world from imminent destruction.

Some hilarity ensues.

Again, I thought the movie was enjoyable – the voices, especially Witherspoon’s, were pretty perfect – but I could’ve taken it with the 3-D any day of the week.

Sometimes, 3-D for 3-D’s sake it is just short-sighted.

My Rating **1/2

Photo: Fandango.com.