Cinefantastique Online

Just wanted to make a brief comment on this review of  MONSTERS VS. ALIENS at Columbia’s weekly Free Times. The anonymous reviewer – obviously a fan of ‘50 sci-fi films -  argues that the new animated movie’s appropriation of monster icons from that earlier era shortchanges younger viewers, who will not understand the references:

What will The Missing Link (Will Arnett) mean to kids who have never seen The Creature From the Black Lagoon? Dr. Cockroach (Hugh Laurie) to kids who have never seen The Fly? B.O.B. (Seth Rogen) to kids who have never seen The Blob? Insectisaurus (no voice, he just bellows) to kids who have never seen either Godzilla or any “giant bug” movie? Or Ginormica (Reese Witherspoon) to kids who have never seen Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman? Not much, because they don’t understand that before Jurassic Park, which inaugurated the modern era of computer-generated monsters, these classic monster archetypes are about all there was.

The review goes on to say that MONSTERS VS. ALIENS misses the underlying humanity of those ’50s movies :

Black Lagoon’s Gillman was an expression of an indignant nature rebelling against man’s incursion; Godzilla signified the implacable wrath of atomic technology loosed upon humankind; the Fly’s poignant “Help me!” was a plea to consider the dangerous new world our postwar knowledge heralded. That plea is no less eloquent 50 years later, but my kids don’t hear it in this film, and that is its tragic failure.

Monsters vs. Aliens appropriates the classic ‘50s forms, but misses the point, never establishing one character that we care about…

While I appreciate the author’s affections for ’50s monster movies (and the advice to parents that they should expose their kids to those earlier movies), the review is not quite fair to MONSTERS VS. ALIENS, which actually does a good job of establishing Susan (who turns into Ginormica) as a likable character. In fact, the whole point of the story is to recognize the underlying humanity of the monsters, who turn out to be the heroes.

Sure, it’s easy to make this point in a cartoon, where the monsters are not really scary, but it is a point worth making, and it doesn’t dishonor the classic and cult films that are referenced in MONSTERS VS. ALIENS. Who knows? This might even inspired younger viewers to seek out those older movies on home video or television.