MONSTERS VS. ALIENS

Director: Rob Letterman & Conrad Vernon

Stars: Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rogen, Hugh Laurie, Will Arnett, Kiefer Sutherland, Rainn Wilson, Stephen Colbert

Year: 2009

Rating: PG

This okay-but-not-great animated comedy begins as Susan Murphy (voiced by Reese Witherspoon) is in the middle of preparing for her wedding day. As with any other day, chaos reigns supreme as Susan - already the nervous type - readies to walk down the aisle. But before any vows can be shared, or any bouquet can be thrown, from out of the sky a meteorite falls to earth ... and close enough to Susan to transform her into a giant maybe fifty high.

Needless to say, the guests and neighbors freak, fleeing from the huge "monster" in their midst. Susan tries setting things right, calming everyone down, but is almost immediately whisked away by the military, renamed Ginormica, and taken to a secret government complex where other monsters found amongst humans over the years are being held.

It's here where Susan meets B.O.B. (Seth Rogen), a gelatinous blue glob of mass with one probing eye and the IQ of a pasta salad; Dr. Cockroach (Hugh Laurie), a highly-intelligent bug with big eyes and a five-star vocabulary; The Missing Link (Will Arnett), a B-movie version of the Creature from the Black Lagoon with more bravado than bravery; and the giant Insectosaurus (my personal favorite), who - for his size - is far more goofy and lovable than he is monstrous. Together, the group makes up a motley crew to say the least - but when an alien attack suddenly manifests itself on earth, General Monger (Kiefer Sutherland), the man in charge of this secretive holding place for monsters, is the very guy who has to rally them all together to fight the alien attack ... which is led by a mean little alien dude named Gallaxhar, determined to suck the earth dry of all its resources for himself.

To say the less-than-horrific monsters are not up to the challenge is a real understatement (though they pull through the first battle), and this is where the film gets most of its humor - from the total ineptness of the "good guys" in battling the bad. The film is beautiful to look at, colorful and masterfully animated in typical Dreamworks style (actually, not typical; this film really is a feast for the eye). The characters are suitably charming and funny, and even Stephen Colbert as the rather stupid President of the United States is a treat.

But somehow, it just doesn't gel - not even as well as B.O.B. does. The film lags in more than a few places where I found myself checking the time and trying to figure out how much longer the movie was), and while the movie is cute enough and harmless enough and easy to like ... there just wasn't a whole lot there to love. No "oomph" factor, or jokes that made you laugh out loud, and even a deep connection with any of the characters just wasn't there for me. A great cast, and charming story idea, for sure -but the film just never takes off enough to make it anything more than just ... "okay." The film has a couple of really good moments, but otherwise - overall - just fails to rouse. **1/2 - Reel Mediocre-Reel Cool