Directors Rob Letterman and Conrad Vernon bring the best of their directing experiences of SHARK TALE and SHREK 2 to the new Dreamworks 3D kid flick MONSTERS VS. ALIENS.  With a combination of goofiness, comedy and action with a solid message included, MONSTERS VS. ALIENS entertains all ages, including adults.

MONSTERS VS. ALIENS begins with a normal girl, Susan (surprisingly well voiced by a recognizable Reese Witherspoon) getting married to the love of her life, an egomaniac weatherman, Derek (Paul Rudd).  But as craziness goes, she is hit by a meteorite on her special day and turns into a 50 feet lady.  Captured by the government, she and new found monster pals are released later to save the world from aliens.  All this is actually quite fun for the twist is that we have reluctant have-not-got-a-clue heroes fighting against a smart-talking alien mastermind (Rainn Wilson).

The monsters include Dr. Cockroach (Hugh Laurie) that claims he cannot be crushed, missing link fishman (Will Arnett) and the blue blob (really funny Seth Rogen).  But the prize characters belong to a really animated President of the United States (Stephen Colbert) and General Monger (Keifer Stuerland), obviously inspired by George C. Scott’s warmonger general in Kubrick’s DR. STRANGELOVE.  The film takes worn-out genres (evil scientist; monster and alien films) and plays with them, taking it one step further by combining them.  Nods too to film classics like DR. STRANGELOVE, ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN.  Thankfully, the audience is spared from any silly romance, embarrassing songs or cutesy characters, typical for Disney animated features.

MONSTERS VS. ALIENS being animated allows 3D effects to be more fun and applicable.  From meteorites flying out to the screen to hurling missiles, this is 3D CGI at its best.  It looks like it has paid well for Dreamworks to come up with this relatively original animated flick instead of opting for say, SHREK 4.