Prior to my recent viewing of this film, I’d only seen The Wizard of Oz from beginning to end once in my life. This happened when I was a child, and though I didn’t remember too many specifics about the movie, I always thought about it as a classic along the lines of The Sound of Music: something that plays on television almost every year that can be easily enjoyed by the whole family. This time around, I decided to introduce the Wizard of Oz to my 8-year-old son just so he would have some inkling what the film was about.

As I might have expected, my son didn’t respond too well to The Wizard of Oz. In this day and age of Avatar and Transformers, Oz must seem incredibly cheesy to him. He was bored at the beginning; perked up a bit when the tornado struck; paid attention to some of the earlier scenes in Oz; and then ended up staring off into space for most of the rest of the film. I can’t say I blame him, actually. The movie didn’t hold up that well with me, either. Sure, some of the songs are good and the overall message is wonderful. But those things didn’t make it any easier to sit through the entire run time.

I know a lot of people love The Wizard of Oz, so my rating is certainly not going to be a popular one. To me the film was too dull in many places, and too overwrought in others. I give this one just 2 stars out of 5.

Plot summary (from the studio): When California girl Susan Murphy is unexpectedly clobbered by a meteor full of outer space gunk, she mysteriously grows to 49-feet-11-inches tall and is instantly labeled as a “monster” named Ginormica. The military jumps into action, and she is captured and held in a secret government compound. The world learns that the military has been quietly rounding up other monsters over the years. This ragtag group consists of the brilliant but insect-headed Dr. Cockroach, PhD; the macho half-ape, half-fish The Missing Link; the gelatinous and indestructible B.O.B.; and the 350-foot grub called Insectosaurus. Their confinement time is cut short, however, when a mysterious alien robot lands on Earth and begins storming the country.

As a last resort, under the guidance of General W.R. Monger (on a desperate order from the President), the motley crew of monsters is called into action to combat the aliens and save the world from imminent destruction.

Warning: Spoilers below!

Liked:

• I thought B.O.B. was the best character by far. The animation was fantastic, and it seemed that he was always doing something funny in the background of each scene he appeared in. Also, Seth Rogen’s voice was perfect here. Rogen just sounds like a dumb, fat blob, so it fit. (That was meant to be a compliment. Really.)
• Kiefer Sutherland’s work as the army general was pretty good, too. I was definitely entertained by his stereotypical, gung-ho, over-the-top take on a “war monger.”
• Derek Dietl was the kind of character you enjoy rooting against. His perfect hair and too-polished smile reminded me of some guy on an infomercial trying to sell the best mattresses los angeles has to offer — but I guess weatherman was a good fit as well!

Disliked:

• The story was very boring, IMO. It didn’t seem like the stakes were very high, since the villain seemed only to want whatever substance infiltrated Ginormica’s body. It’s not like he was out to destroy the Earth or anything, so it didn’t matter one way or the other if he succeeded.
• The final battle with the Monsters vs. Aliens was the most anticlimactic I’ve ever seen! The Monsters were just given their weapons, and all it took to blow up the ship was some incredibly stupid dance routine from Dr. House Cockroach.
• Susan would rather be Ginormica and hobnob with a cockroach, reptile, giant butterfly, and gelatinous blob than be a normal human? Uhhh, okay.

Rating:

I usually go a little easier when rating animated family films than when rating ordinary films, but I just can’t give Monsters vs. Aliens the benefit of the doubt. The title and concept sound exciting, but the execution is simply terrible. There’s no real action in the movie and no significant motivation driving the characters. Even my 8-year-old was bored out of his mind. I give this one 2 stars out of 5.

Warning: Spoilers ahead! Unlike a lot of people, I was never particularly enthralled as a child with the book Where the Wild Things Are. I just didn’t get why it was supposed to be so good. Maybe it’s because I’m a girl or because I never acted out like Max or because I simply didn’t have that kind of imagination. Whatever the reason, the book never spoke to me. My son sort of likes it, though, so he wanted to see the film. We finally got around to renting it recently.

But you know what? This is just not the kind of story that plays well on the silver screen. The single biggest problem for me was the kid who played Max. He seemed far too old to be having such massive tantrums and doing childish things like standing on the table even after his mother told him to get down. I mean, really? He looked like he was 10. What 10-year-old acts that way? One that has anger management issues, probably — and that’s all I could think about during the whole movie. In the book, I got that Max was a boy with a very vivid imagination that he employed to help himself escape the drudgery of being grounded in his room. But in the film, I kept thinking, wow, this boy has severe problems and needs professional intervention. I have a feeling that’s not the effect the filmmaker was going for.

Nothing else really captured my attention in the film. None of the creatures was interesting to me, nor was Max’s various relationships with them when he was on the island. I was basically bored out of my mind the whole time.

As for my 8-year-old, his favorite scenes were the ones that were lifted directly from the book. In fact, he sat with the book open on his lap while watching, and pointed excitedly whenever he recognized a scene. Otherwise, he was pretty restless and bored too. It took us a few sittings to get through this one.

Overall, I thought this movie was a big waste of time and money. There was nothing at all redeeming about it, IMO. I give it 2 stars out of 5 — and that’s only because I somehow managed to watch the whole thing.