Monsters vs Aliens
DreamWorks Distribution | Release Date: March 27, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
56
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 35 Critic Reviews
Positive:
20
Mixed:
12
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
Pure, light entertainment. Read full review
80
Village VoiceRobert Wilonsky
The grandeur of the effects--the honest-to-God spectacle of the thing--elevates Monsters vs. Aliens to something approaching art. It's not a masterpiece, but it's most certainly a milestone. Read full review
80
SlateJessica Winter
The richly multilayered picture tends to have a gently immersive effect, akin to a stroll through the world's most expensive diorama. Read full review
80
EmpireKim Newman
Yayyyy, monsters! Read full review
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
The movie may best be appreciated by people who know the references. All five monsters come from low-budget science fiction films of the 1950s. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Full disclosure: I saw Monsters vs. Aliens in 2-D. No dorky plastic glasses, no alien ooze flying at my head. More full disclosure: I liked it. Read full review
75
PremiereStaff (Not credited)
This is a pleasure to watch for everyone. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Dazzling colors, winning characters and energetic visual effects all work in concert, with the 3-D animation serving to intensify the experience. Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazinePerry Seibert
This is a lean 90 minutes, packed with laughs and age-appropriate thrills -- not to mention a solid lesson for girls about self-respect. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
My favorite voice/animation combo, however, is Stephen Colbert's very terrestrial president of the United States. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
There is a nice mix of action with tender moments -- especially among the misfit monsters Read full review
70
VarietyTodd McCarthy
A film of chuckles, smiles and light amusement rather than big laughs, galvanizing excitement and original invention. Read full review
70
TimeRichard Corliss
Another crowd-pleasing, expert-babysitting vaudeville turn. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesBetsy Sharkey
In fact "nice" is the adjective that seems to surface most in trying to pin down the film's most salient quality, which means that while the film is enjoyable enough, it is unlikely to become a classic for us, or a "Shrek" sort of franchise for DreamWorks. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderAndrea Gronvall
Children won't get the references to atomic-age monster movies, but the film offers more than nostalgia: there are slyly funny performances by Seth Rogen as an omnivorous blue blob and Stephen Colbert as the U.S. president, who faces down, and then flees, an alien invasion. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubTasha Robinson
On some level, the latest DreamWorks CGI project isn't a movie so much as a gag-delivery system wrapped in special effects. The story is crammed with incident, yet completely trifling; there are a ton of personalities, but no real characters. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Monsters vs. Aliens suffers from the common 3D problems: dim lighting, poor focus in fast-paced action sequences, and too many distractions for the movie to grab the viewer. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
3-D is a distraction and an annoyance. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy Burr
If you have to see Monsters vs. Aliens - and if you're a parent, you will have to - make sure it's the 3-D version. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter Travers
"WALL-E" had more charm, more soul, more everything. But there's enough merry mischief here to satisfy, even if you’re way past puberty. Read full review
60
Film ThreatEric Campos
The 3D visuals are an enormous part of MVA's experience and they also help to cover up the lackluster “comedy.” Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
The movie works hard -- desperately hard -- to be all things to all audience segments. And the visible effort erodes the sense of gaiety, of unfettered fun. Read full review
55
NPRBob Mondello
After a while, you can see the setups happening -- and once you do, the careening gets predictable. Which gets old, really fast. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
This action-comedy will seem fresh only to 8-year-olds -- though it may give parents an excuse to introduce some of the '50s horror movies it parodies. Read full review
50
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Has bells and whistles, superb technical sophistication and dazzling visual effects, sound, fury and Reese Witherspoon. What it doesn't have is heart. Like so many vehicles that have popped out from the DreamWorks Animation snark tank, Monsters vs. Aliens is too clever by half. Read full review
50
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
The movie is curiously unmemorable, partly because nearly all of its humor depends on your having seen something like it before, even if you haven't. Read full review
50
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Even in 3D, as the picture is being shown in some theaters -- Ginormica is a disappointingly flat character. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Despite the 3-D gadgetry, there's a musty odour to the script. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
The movie is reasonably entertaining, though it helps to be 6 years old. Read full review
50
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
As I took off my gray-lensed 3-D spectacles at the end of Monsters vs. Aliens, I felt not so much immersed as fuzzy with exhaustion. What I had seen struck me less as a herald of shining possibility than as a thrill ride back to the future--back, that is, to an idea of the future, and a stale one at that. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleKimberley Jones
The misfits, as ever, must take a back seat to the morality, and the result – while in no way migraine-inducing – traffics in rote truisms. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
The biggest battle in Monsters vs. Aliens is banality vs. originality, and banality carries the day. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
It's tough to get on board with these monsters. They don't get the banter they--or we--deserve, and the screenwriters lean on wearying stereotypes. Read full review
38
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Will pop your eyes without tickling your funny bone. Read full review
25
New York PostLou Lumenick
Dreamworks Animation's clunky and wildly unimaginative Monsters vs. Aliens really doesn't have a clue what to do with the [3-D] technique. Read full review
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