Monsters vs. Aliens

Director: Rob Letterman and Conrad Vernon
Year Released: 2009
Rating: 1.0

Obnoxiously derivative animated movie - it doesn't have an original thought in its over-budgeted, over-hyped head, freely ripping off the likes of Star Wars and classic movie characters (the 50 Foot woman, the Blob, the Fly, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, Mothra) and sitcom-level humor. Dreamworks is the generic alternative to Pixar - the latter make family entertainment with intelligence and wit, the former tends to be an assembly line of pop drivel (the Shrek series, Bee Movie, Shark Tale). I missed the "3-D" version of this in the theaters, but I don't think it would have upped the grade that much - as far as bright spots are concerned, Seth Rogan's work as the brainless Blob character is consistently funny: if he can keep himself from sinking into a purple haze and tires of on-screen roles, he can always rake in some cash doing voice-over.