The film features the voices of Seth Rogen, Reese Witherspoon, Hugh Laurie and about a million other celebrities and revolves around a group of “monsters” who try to save the world from an alien attack.

image: Dreamworks

There is a subplot, however.  When the film opens, Reese’s character, Susan Murphy, is about to get married.  Her fiancé is clearly a self-absorbed tool but she gives up all of her power and goes along with whatever he wants.  Just before she’s about to head down the aisle, she’s hit by a meteorite and is turned into a giant woman who the government names Ginormica.  After becoming huge, Susan/Ginormica begins to feel empowered and stops pining over the life she would have had and realizes that she is great on her own.  Yeah, it had a whole “girl power” thing going on…

Either way, the movie was funny enough.  I wouldn’t say I loved it but it was okay.  My kids liked it so, of course, we had to pick up the Monsters vs. Aliens video game.  I think the game is actually better than the movie, if I’m being honest.  Why not make a night of it?  Watch the movie then play the game!

Post from: EveryJoe

image: Xbox.com

In the game, you will play as one of the monster characters as you fight off an alien attack.  You will start off as Ginormica, the 49’ 11” woman and will learn a series of skills including how to slide along pipes/walls and basic fighting skills (you can also do things like use cars as roller-skates!).  You will progress through the game learning the controls and unique talents of The Missing Link (bBash, bounce, swing, tail whip, and climb), B.O.B. (ooze through cracks, stick to ceilings, and absorb and spit out enemies) and the 350-foot tall grub, Insectosaurus.

A really cool feature in co-op mode, is that a second player can grab a controller at anytime and join in as Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D. (blast apart enemies, toss foes with a tractor beam and grab hard-to-reach upgrades) to save the earth from the megalomaniacal alien Gallaxhar.

image: Xbox.com

I really enjoyed testing out this game with my kids tonight.  It was pretty easy to get into the game and it felt a lot like a more family-friendly version of superhero games like Spider-man. Since it is based on a movie that I haven’t seen (it comes out today!) I didn’t want to go too far into it so that it doesn’t ruin the ending but, from what I saw, it’s a great kid-friendly game.

Post from: EveryJoe