'Monsters vs. Aliens:' Animated spoof is a lively romp

There is a moment in the mischievous and occasionally hilarious "Monsters vs. Aliens" when horrified citizens who are fleeing across the Golden Gate Bridge are reminded that "exact change is not required but recommended."

A bus goes by with a sign reading "E.T. Go Home."

Someone screams: "What would Oprah do?!"

Don't let the unfortunately alarmist title fool you. This is all comedy and hardly ever scary. The "monsters" in question are lovable misfit oddities who only want to be loved. There's a Jell-O Blob named B.O.B., a half-fish creature known as The Missing Link and a mad-scientist cockroach.

They have been locked away by the U.S. government to prevent panic, but they are sorely needed when aliens attack.

The monsters are brought out of hiding to fight the aliens. There are more one-liners than explosions, although the battle on the Golden Gate Bridge is as lively as anything live folks could manage in more "serious" action flicks.

If you take nothing seriously, you'll have a good time.

"Monsters vs. Aliens" attempts, somewhat successfully, to do for cheapo science-fiction flicks what "Shrek" did for fairy tales. Now that we've seen Cinderella and Puss 'n Boots do vaguely obscene things around a flatulent donkey, it's time to bring in Creature From the Black Lagoon and The Blob. Put it all in computer animation and move everything quickly, and you can palm it off as a kiddie movie.

Like "Shrek," which came from the same studio, DreamWorks, this has a lightly cynical edge that should make it widely acceptable to adults, particularly film buffs who can delight in the dozens of sly references to old monster movies.

The children won't get those references, but they'll get to see lots of noisy creatures running around.

Things are set into motion when Susan (with the voice of Reese Witherspoon) is hit by a meteor on the way to her wedding. She becomes the almost-50-foot woman, and the government spirits her away to imprisonment with the rest of the monsters. (In a burst of originality, she, in this version, is a mere 49 feet, 11 inches.) Tall girls everywhere can be encouraged by the fact that her clothes grow with her. (Otherwise, we might have an R-rated film.)

Witherspoon supplies the only voice that is recognizable. (Even though some say he's a star, some of us can't remember what Seth Rogen looks like, much less sounds like.)

These films are often only as good as their villain. "Monsters" has a snarling, slithering, booming dilly in the tentacled presence of Gallaxhar, a maniac who has destroyed his own planet and now wants to take over Earth.

He has four eyes (which might make it difficult for 3-D). His high forehead is stolen directly from the alien in "This Island Earth," an all-but-forgotten B-budgeter from 1955.

We are told the 3-D effects are great, particularly since it uses the latest technology. We couldn't really say, because the print made available for review was not in 3-D - although it's easy to spot where meteors and things are just begging to jump out.

It's a romp, in any dimension.

Mal Vincent, (757) 446-2347, mal.vincent@pilotonline.com