Film Reviews

While at Huntington University, Nathan worked for the Huntingtonian, the university newspaper, as one of two film critics, who, three times a month, gave their thoughts and insight on the newest films out.

Whether good, bad, “edge of your seat,” or mind-numbingly boring, Nathan gave every film the benefit of the doubt while watching and then gave his readers an honest opinion mixed with both humor and knowlege of film theory.

For more reviews, check out Nathan’s Film Review Archive

Featured Film Review

Monsters vs. Aliens (2009)

It sounds like the greatest piece of popcorn action/entertainment ever right? Creepy creatures take on sinister spacemen! Thrills! Chills! And in 3D to boot! But in the end, what are we really left with? Sadly, a ninety-four minute pop-culture addled piece of meh.

Voiced by Reese Witherspoon, Monsters vs. Aliens centers around Susan Murphy, a soon to be married bride whose encounter with a recently fallen meteor transforms her to a gigantic size. Captured by the government and separated from her family, Susan is kept Gitmo style in a secret military base (cough! Area 51 cough!) where she meets a whole troupe of freaks. There’s the gelatinous goofball Bob (Seth Rogen), the macho man-fish known as “The Missing Link” (“Arrested Development’s” Will Arnett) and the half man/ half insect known as Dr. Cockroach, voiced by “House M.D.’s” Hugh Laurie.

As fate would have it, Susan and the gang are called into action when an evil alien overlord (Dwight Schrute himself, Rainn Wilson) tries to take over the world with an army of clones (hmmmm…now where have I seen that before?). If the monsters do succeed they’ll be rewarded with their freedom and Susan can reunite with her family.

By paying homage to such a fun genre as classic B-movie monsters and aliens, I had high hopes for this “edge of your seat” adventure. Regretfully, the problems that exist in “MvA” go as deep as it’s creator, “Dreamworks Animation.” Since Shrek filled theatre seats and company wallets with its mix of gray area jokes and pop culture references, Dreamworks has rehashed this same formula a number of times in the form of such animated works as “Shark Tale” or “Madagascar.”

The main problem with Monsters vs. Aliens, or any Dreamworks animated film for that matter is simple. When shtick like the president playing Axel F on a keyboard or Dr. Cockroach using Dance Dance Revolution to break an alien code occurs, I can’t help but ask myself, “How is this going to translate to future generations who have no relation to these deeply dating cultural references?” What if in “Snow White” Grumpy had taken a jibe at Roosevelt’s New Deal or in “Dumbo” Timothy the mouse did an impression of radio’s “The Great Gildersleeves” (yeah, that last reference just went over every readers head). My point is, while films like Monsters vs. Aliens are funny to us now, they lack the possibility to be timeless because they spend too much time making their characters “current” and forget that what really stays with people is the heart of the story.

So, in conclusion, Monster vs. Aliens is fun and I did chuckle, but I feel like I’ve road this ride before. It’s not that it’s poorly acted or poorly animated, it’s just that I feel Dreamworks is more interested in the quantity than quality of their work and creating the best story possible takes a backseat to allowing their silly characters to make reality TV show references. It’s an easy fix, and, when Dreamworks finally feels confidant enough to let their stories speak without a pop culture filter, we may just witness something truly worth seeing.

2 ½ out of 5 stars