Monsters vs. Aliens

Features, Shorts, Live-Action and Direct-To-Video
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Post by CGIFanatic » March 31st, 2009, 5:04 pm

I think sometimes we tend to be so overly critical of movies that we forget to have fun with them. I admire kid’s abilities to go watch movies and just go with the flow.

We went to see the movies with my nieces (12, 11 and 7 years old) and they all loved the movie so much so that they asked their parents if they could go see the movies again. I’ve been taking these kids to see animated movie (Disney, Pixar or DreamWorks) for years and they’ve never reacted like that before, maybe it’s because of the female character or something else but it sure is interesting to compare their reaction to some of the reactions here.
Last edited by CGIFanatic on March 31st, 2009, 8:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by Ben » March 31st, 2009, 8:11 pm

Well, this <I>is</I> where DWs strikes well, at making broad, crowd pleasing movies. They always have been able to tap into their audiences.

But there's nothing truly groundbreaking in their films that pushes any envelopes...they all play them safe. There's nothing wrong with that, of course, but artists owe it to themselves to push and challenge themselves.

Nothing wrong with MvA...it was a good, well made commercial movie, but nothing more.

I'm not surprised the girls are reacting so strongly...Susan is a strong female role model in a continuing series of films where such characters are 1) rare, and 2) almost never as fully rounded.

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Post by James » April 1st, 2009, 9:43 am


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Post by Dacey » April 1st, 2009, 11:26 am

Funnily enough, there's been a lot of complaint about Susan's character for some reason. I've heard a number of people (my mom included) accusing this movie of being too focused on girl power.

Which I find incredibly odd for quite a few reasons, since no one made a big deal about her being a woman in the movie or anything. And like Ben said, there have been very few female leads in animated movies lately. Pixar's never even had one.
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Post by Meg » April 1st, 2009, 11:38 am

Yeah, I didn't get the 'girl power' vibe from the film. In fact, I found it extremely refreshing to see a woman in the lead role of an animated movie, since the only other CGI feature I can think of to feature a female as the protagonist was Hoodwinked.

Whether or not the industry wants to acknowledge it, half of the populations is female, and I've always been disappointed of the small roles they've played in most animated films, if they're even featured at all.

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Post by surfnspy » April 1st, 2009, 1:01 pm

I thought it was fun.

I DID see it on imax in 3-D tho, so that probably made the experience a bit more exciting.

The pleasure was somewhat dimmed by the realization that I had spent nearly $75 bucks to take two kids to see it! (Tickets $50, snacks 24!) No wonder the grosses were so high.

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Post by Dacey » April 1st, 2009, 2:00 pm

How much did the IMAX tickets cost individually, SurfnSpy?
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Post by Locall » April 9th, 2009, 9:06 am

I saw it in 2-D last Monday, I though it was awful :S
You could clearly see what should have been in 3-D which didn't make an impact in 2-D, a shame they've put technology prior to story.

The story imo was really flat and the jokes weren't my cup of tea, the film overall looked great, the details were flawless so there's a big plus.
the bits with the president playing keyboard, and the bit with the bugprofessor and his danceroutines were the lamest jokes ever, the audience was really quiet aswell

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Post by ELIOLI » April 13th, 2009, 7:34 pm

Greetings everyone! I am most cerainly new on here, and the funny thing is, I have been on this site last year, but had never been able to login. Anyways.... Well, this may be a little late on this specific subject, but I would like to share my thoughts on this film.

I don't know about sharing my age, so I wouldn't do it just in case, but i am very young and adore animated films, well, as long as they are good and not some lackluster film anyway, and I'm definetly not saying that I am a professinal critic at any cost(if ther is such a thing), but critiquing movies is certainly a common habit whenever I watch films. I'll stop yapping now. Onward!
I suppose not everbody, but atleast most people seem to hate DreamWorks films because of their lack of storytelling and pop culture jokes and ect. But I actually enjoyed this movie. the 3-d was spectacuallar IMO. The animation was superb and the effects often times seemed tangible. To be completeley honest, i thought the story was where it needed to be. I know, you all say that they could take more risks, and sometimes those risks can lead to much greater things, but it had a feel of a somewhat classic sci-fi action movie. well, you can determine if it has a "classic" status. Who an I to decide? I'm just a naive kid I suppose... What Am I to say?

Personally, I thought the jokes were quite humurous actually, but I guess that depends on everyone's humor. The characters were very stylized to me, and somewhat unique. i mean, don't get me wrong, i'm not saytning that there wasn't any flaws. You are never going to find a "perfect" movie. There's always someone out there who will hate it or love it, or mabye in the middle. overall, it was enjoyable. Though i understand that a film, most of the time, needs to have strong story elemnets and character developement and to be enjoyable not only to the 5 to 12 demographic, but appeasing to adult audiences as well but, what ever happened to the good old fashion days where critizing about that film or its studio ceased(well, not actually ceased, but was never put into thought that much) and just simply enjoy the film for what it is? To tell you the truth, I've find Pixar films to be enjoyable, neverthelss, but, I've never actually been that engrossed in any of their films. Sure, they can probobly make a better film than me any day, but they are all declared "masterpeices" and "breathtaking". trust me on this one, thay are very memrable for may years to come. i hope you won't hurt me for saying this, but i find them nothing more than, well, somwhat average. And somehow, thay make so much money. Unerstandably, their movies, i guess appeal more to larger crowds. To be fair, i guess dreamWorks the same since it seems to be disliked so much, here, and SOME other places. But I find their films to be more enjoyable for some reason. I most ceratinly not a Pixar hater. I love them and anything animation, but that's my POV. Is it weird and rare that Im not "in love" with Pixar or anything? Give me your thougts if you don't mind . :)

I know it's kind of lengthy.. But I'm glad to be here on the boards!

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Post by Ben » April 13th, 2009, 7:58 pm

Welcome, Elioli, to our boards, and thanks for the very enthusiastic first post! :)

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Post by EricJ » April 13th, 2009, 8:22 pm

Meg wrote:Yeah, I didn't get the 'girl power' vibe from the film. In fact, I found it extremely refreshing to see a woman in the lead role of an animated movie, since the only other CGI feature I can think of to feature a female as the protagonist was Hoodwinked.
The "runaway bride"?
The "wacky" gender-reversed parody of the inevitable Couple In the Convertible?
50FW as "empowerment allegory"?

(...Ohh, Nancy Archer, I feel your embarrassment:
We're still trying to live down that Daryl Hannah cable mess.) :roll:

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Post by Locall » April 15th, 2009, 4:56 am

ELIOLI wrote:I suppose not everbody, but atleast most people seem to hate DreamWorks films because of their lack of storytelling and pop culture jokes and ect.

Is it weird and rare that Im not "in love" with Pixar or anything? Give me your thougts if you don't mind . :)
First of all welcome to the board, I'm kind of a newbie myself... and as you probably guessed a Pixar-lover...
Certainly it ain't weird you're not in love with them, nowadays there seem to be 2 sort of animated films:

I think Pixar makes films that haven't been done before, with all new techniques, top-notch animation, amazing backgrounds and best of all a story with a heart.
It's like a 5 star restaurant...

The other films are more like a fastfoodchain (I am not intending to insult anyone, it's all on what you prefer)... these are the films Dreamworks makes, you can see the difference in animation, backgrounds and usually lacks a heart... they're more made for the humor nicely wrapped up.

You'll always have people thinking this one's better than the other one, and vica versa... we'll just have to deal with it.

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Post by ELIOLI » April 15th, 2009, 8:26 am

True. True. I love honest opinions. And too, I guess people have different movie preferences as well. Then again, I'm not saying that I hate Pixar either. I'm going to see UP hopefully on it's opening night! I think it looks grand! Well, that's another discussion!
http://www.elioliart.com/

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Post by Ben » April 15th, 2009, 5:17 pm

It's great to have a fine, fine meal, but once in a while, only a MaccyD's will do! ;)

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Post by ELIOLI » April 15th, 2009, 8:19 pm

I'm sorry. I'm not following you, Ben. I can't decipher things like that! :oops: I'm not trying to sound rude, which I'm not trying to be, but what does that mean? just curous. :)

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