Monsters vs. Aliens
Encyclopedia
Monsters vs. Aliens is a 2009 American computer-animated
3-D science fiction film
produced by DreamWorks Animation
and distributed by Paramount Pictures
. The computer-animated movie was the first to be directly produced in a stereoscopic
3-D format instead of being converted into 3-D after completion, which added $15 million to the film's budget.
The film was scheduled for a May 2009 release, but the release date was moved to March 27, 2009. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray September 29, 2009 in North America and included the easter egg to the upcoming movies and previews. Monsters vs. Aliens features the voices of Reese Witherspoon
, Seth Rogen
, Hugh Laurie
, Will Arnett
, Conrad Vernon
, Rainn Wilson
, Kiefer Sutherland
, Stephen Colbert
, and Paul Rudd
.
) is hit by a meteorite
on her wedding day to weather reporter Derek Dietl (Paul Rudd
), causing her to absorb a substance called quantonium
and grow into a giantess
. Alerted to the meteorite crash by first an Arctic base then Susan's dad, the military arrive and capture Susan, who is labeled "Ginormica" and sent to a top-secret prison facility headed by General W.R. Monger (Kiefer Sutherland
) where she meets her fellow monster inmates: B.O.B. (Seth Rogen
), a brainless, indestructible gelatinous blob; Dr. Cockroach, PhD (Hugh Laurie
), a mad scientist with the head and abilities of a cockroach
; the Missing Link
(Will Arnett
), an amphibious fish-ape hybrid; and Insectosaurus, a massive grub
that is larger than Susan.
An alien
named Gallaxhar (Rainn Wilson
) detects the quantonium radiation emanating from Earth and deploys a gigantic robotic probe to find it. The President of the United States (Stephen Colbert
) attempts to make first contact
with the alien robot, which begins destroying everything in sight, impervious to any weapons. General Monger convinces the President to use the monsters to fight the robot instead. The monsters accept the mission with the promise of freedom if they succeed. Arriving in San Francisco, Susan is chased by the robot across the city to the Golden Gate Bridge
, where the monsters are able to defeat the robot.
Now free, Susan returns to her hometown and introduces her family to the monsters, but they are quickly rejected after innocently causing a panic in the neighborhood. Derek, meanwhile, breaks up with Susan, claiming that he cannot be married to a freak who would overshadow his career. At first devastated, Susan begins to realize that becoming a monster has improved her life, and fully embraces her new lifestyle. Suddenly, she is abducted by Gallaxhar, who seemingly kills Insectosaurus when he tries to save her. On Gallaxhar's spaceship, Susan breaks loose and chases Gallaxhar down, only to enter a machine that extracts the quantonium from her body, shrinking her to her normal size. Gallaxhar proceeds to use the quantonium to power a cloning machine which reproduces him into an army so he can invade Earth.
With assistance from General Monger, B.O.B., Dr. Cockroach, and the Missing Link infiltrate Gallaxhar's spaceship, rescue Susan, and hot-wire the spaceship's power core, activating the self-destruct sequence. During their escape, Susan is cut off from her friends, who are trapped in the power core. They tell her to save herself, but Susan instead confronts Gallaxhar, who tries to escape with the quantonium, and attempts to force him into releasing her friends. When Gallaxhar says he cannot reverse the sequence, Susan absorbs the quantonium, restoring herself to giant size and she saves her friends. The monsters leap out of the exploding spaceship and are rescued by General Monger on the back of the revived Insectosaurus, who has metamorphosed
into a butterfly
.
The monsters receive a hero's welcome home. Derek tries to get back with Susan for the sake of an interview that could benefit his career. Instead, Susan rejects him by throwing him in the air where he is caught, swallowed and spit out by B.O.B. on camera. The monsters are then alerted to a giant snail named Escargantua attacking near Paris and fly off to face the new menace.
. Several hundred Hewlett-Packard
xw8600 workstations were used, along with a large and powerful 'render farm
' of HP ProLiant blade server
s with over 9,000 server processor cores, to process the animation sequence. The movie demanded 120 terabytes of data to complete, with one explosion scene alone requiring 6 TB.
Since Monsters vs. Aliens, all feature films released by DreamWorks Animation will be produced in a stereoscopic
3-D format, using Intel's InTru3D
technology. IMAX 3D, RealD and 2D versions were released.
DVD and the other version was shown with Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. A full-length trailer was launched on the Internet on December 23, 2008.
To promote the 3-D technology that is used in Monsters vs. Aliens, DreamWorks ran a 3-D trailer before halftime in the U.S. broadcast of Super Bowl XLIII
on February 1, 2009. Due to the limitations of current television technology, ColorCode 3D glasses were distributed at SoBe
stands at major national grocers. The Monsters, except Susan and Insectosaurus, also appeared in a 3-D SoBe commercial airing after the trailer. Bank of America
gave away vouchers which covered the cost of an upgrade to a 3-D theatrical viewing of the film for its customers.
, Monsters vs. Aliens has an overall approval rating from critics of 72%, with an average score of 6.5/10. Among Rotten Tomatoes' Cream of the Crop, which consists of popular and notable critics from the top newspapers, websites, television, and radio programs, the film holds an overall approval rating of 58% based on 36 reviews. By comparison, on Metacritic
, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an average score of 56, based on 35 reviews. Roger Ebert gave the film a mixed review, saying "I suppose kids will like this movie", but said "I didn't find the movie rich with humor."
theaters, becoming the 5th highest-grossing IMAX debut, behind Star Trek, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
, The Dark Knight
and Watchmen
. The movie made $198,351,526 in the United States and Canada making it the second-highest grossing animated movie behind Up
. Worldwide, it is the third-highest grossing animated film of 2009 with a total of $383,466,166 behind Up and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
. According to Boxofficemojo.com the film cost $175 million to develop.
Reese Witherspoon
and Seth Rogen
were both nominated for best voice actor at the 2010 Kid's Choice Awards for voicing Susan and B.O.B, but lost to Jim Carrey
for Disney's A Christmas Carol. Monsters Vs Aliens was also nominated for Best Animated film but lost to Up
. On June 24, 2009 the film won the Saturn Award for Best Animated Film
.
in the US and Canada on September 29, 2009 and on October 26, 2009 in the UK. The home release for both the DVD and Blu-ray format only contain the 2D version of the movie. However, the release is packaged with a new short, B.O.B.'s Big Break
, which is the more traditional 3D that required green and magenta glasses. Also included are four pairs of 3D glasses. As of November 29, 2009 the DVD has sold 4,431,584 million copies generating $73.79 million in sales so far. On January 6, 2010, it was announced that a 3D version will be released on Blu-ray
. On February 24, a tentative March release date was set for the UK, where anyone who buys a Samsung 3D TV or 3D Blu-ray player will get a copy. On March 8, it was reported that the 3D Blu-ray will be released in the United States, also with Samsung 3D products, on March 21.
, PlayStation 3
, Xbox 360
, Nintendo DS
, PlayStation 2
, and Wii
. The game, developed by Beenox
and Amaze Entertainment
, allows users to play through scenes from the movie as Ginormica, B.O.B., and The Missing Link, and features drop-in/out co-op. Players can play as Dr. Cockroach, PhD in multiplayer co-op, as well as Insectosaurus on the Nintendo DS version of the game. The music was composed by Jim Dooley
, with live brass recorded at the Warner Brothers Eastwood Scoring Stage. The Monsters Vs. Aliens Videogame has garnered a Metacritic score of 63 for the Xbox 360 version of the title.
Another video game entitled Super Star Kartz
was released by Activision on November 15, 2011, for PlayStation 3, XBox 360, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, and Nintendo 3DS. The game features 14 different characters from DreamWorks' films – Monsters vs. Aliens, Madagascar, Shrek, and How To Train Your Dragon
.
announced that Nickelodeon
has ordered a pilot for a Monsters vs. Aliens cartoon series.
was quoted in the Los Angeles Times that a sequel would not be made because of the film's weak performance in some key international markets. "There was enough of a consensus from our distribution and marketing folks in certain parts of the world that 'doing a sequel' would be pushing a boulder up a hill." After the release of Megamind, Katzenberg commented Shark Tale
, Monsters vs. Aliens, and Megamind: "All shared an approach and tone and idea of parody, and did not travel well internationally. We don’t have anything like that coming on our schedule now."
in 2D on September 26, 2009, and was released 3 days later in 2D and 3D on the Monsters vs Aliens Blu-ray
and the double DVD pack.
B.O.B., Dr. Cockroach, PhD, and The Missing Link are trying to outwit General W.R. Monger to escape from Area 52, the government's top-secret holding cell. Cockroach's escape attempt by feeding B.O.B. a chemical mixture to turn him into a bomb results in B.O.B. temporarily acquiring the ability to read minds, and allowing them to find out about a secret exit from Area 52. Unfortunately, the plan fails when B.O.B. smashes the jet they were using to escape believing it to be a piñata
, with the resulting explosion erasing B.O.B.'s new power.
on October 26, 2009, and aired in USA on the NBC
channel on October 28, 2009. The special was released on DVD in the UK on the October 16, 2010, and is set to have US releases on September 13, 2011, and on September 27, 2011, along with Scared Shrekless
.
Susan and the fellow monsters go back to Susan's home in Modesto, Ca; just in time for Halloween celebrations. Susan spends time with her parents, while the other monsters join in trick-or-treating and collect a large amount of candies. Later, it is revealed that the monsters came to destroy mutant pumpkins disguised as Jack-o-lanterns. When the pumpkins begin to eat children's candies to grow larger, the monsters and children defeat them by throwing excessive candies to bloat them up and explode them. But, in a twist ending, some of the pumpkin "blood" (a green goo that mutated the ordinary pumpkins) falls into a planting of carrots, causing a mutant carrot to be formed.
video service.
Following the cliff hanger at the end of the short, Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space, The Mutated Carrot has spawned hundreds of zombie carrots which once they bite a victim they take control of the subject's mind. Dr. Cockroach determines that the only way to defeat the carrots and free their victims is for B.O.B. to eat all of the carrots (specifically because B.O.B. has no brain and thus is immune to the carrots' mind control powers), which B.O.B eventually, albeit reluctantly, does. A cliff hanger at the end of the short shows B.O.B. being turned into a giant zombie carrot.
Computer animation
Computer animation is the process used for generating animated images by using computer graphics. The more general term computer generated imagery encompasses both static scenes and dynamic images, while computer animation only refers to moving images....
3-D science fiction film
Science fiction film
Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...
produced by DreamWorks Animation
DreamWorks Animation
DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. is an American animation studio based in Glendale, California that creates animated feature films, television program and online virtual worlds...
and distributed by Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
. The computer-animated movie was the first to be directly produced in a stereoscopic
Stereoscopy
Stereoscopy refers to a technique for creating or enhancing the illusion of depth in an image by presenting two offset images separately to the left and right eye of the viewer. Both of these 2-D offset images are then combined in the brain to give the perception of 3-D depth...
3-D format instead of being converted into 3-D after completion, which added $15 million to the film's budget.
The film was scheduled for a May 2009 release, but the release date was moved to March 27, 2009. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray September 29, 2009 in North America and included the easter egg to the upcoming movies and previews. Monsters vs. Aliens features the voices of Reese Witherspoon
Reese Witherspoon
Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon , better known as Reese Witherspoon, is an American actress and film producer. Witherspoon landed her first feature role as the female lead in the film The Man in the Moon in 1991; later that year she made her television acting debut, in the cable movie Wildflower...
, Seth Rogen
Seth Rogen
Seth Rogen is a Canadian stand-up comedian, actor, producer, screenwriter, and voice artist. Rogen began his career doing stand-up comedy during his teen years, winning the Vancouver Amateur Comedy Contest in 1998. While still living in his native Vancouver, he landed a small part in Freaks and...
, Hugh Laurie
Hugh Laurie
James Hugh Calum Laurie, OBE , better known as Hugh Laurie , is an English actor, voice artist, comedian, writer, musician, recording artist, and director...
, Will Arnett
Will Arnett
William Emerson "Will" Arnett is a Canadian actor and comedian best known for his role as George Oscar "G.O.B." Bluth II on the Fox comedy Arrested Development. He is also known for his role as Devon Banks on the NBC comedy 30 Rock. Since his success on Arrested Development, Arnett has landed major...
, Conrad Vernon
Conrad Vernon
Conrad Vernon IV is an American director, writer, and voice actor, best known for his work on the DreamWorks animated films Shrek 2 and Monsters vs...
, Rainn Wilson
Rainn Wilson
Rainn Dietrich Wilson is an American actor and comedian. He is primarily known for his role as the egomaniacal Dwight Schrute on the American version of the television comedy The Office...
, Kiefer Sutherland
Kiefer Sutherland
Kiefer Sutherland is an English-born Canadian actor, producer and director, best known for his portrayal of Jack Bauer on the Fox thriller drama series 24 for which he has won an Emmy Award , a Golden Globe award , two Screen Actors Guild Awards and two Satellite...
, Stephen Colbert
Stephen Colbert
Stephen Tyrone Colbert is an American political satirist, writer, comedian, television host, and actor. He is the host of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, a satirical news show in which Colbert portrays a caricatured version of conservative political pundits.Colbert originally studied to be an...
, and Paul Rudd
Paul Rudd
Paul Stephen Rudd is an American actor and screenwriter. He has primarily appeared in comedies, and is known for his roles in the films Clueless, Wet Hot American Summer, Anchorman, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Dinner for Schmucks, The Object of My...
.
Plot
Bride-to-be Susan Murphy (Reese WitherspoonReese Witherspoon
Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon , better known as Reese Witherspoon, is an American actress and film producer. Witherspoon landed her first feature role as the female lead in the film The Man in the Moon in 1991; later that year she made her television acting debut, in the cable movie Wildflower...
) is hit by a meteorite
Meteorite
A meteorite is a natural object originating in outer space that survives impact with the Earth's surface. Meteorites can be big or small. Most meteorites derive from small astronomical objects called meteoroids, but they are also sometimes produced by impacts of asteroids...
on her wedding day to weather reporter Derek Dietl (Paul Rudd
Paul Rudd
Paul Stephen Rudd is an American actor and screenwriter. He has primarily appeared in comedies, and is known for his roles in the films Clueless, Wet Hot American Summer, Anchorman, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Dinner for Schmucks, The Object of My...
), causing her to absorb a substance called quantonium
Unobtainium
In engineering, fiction, and thought experiments, unobtainium is any extremely rare, costly, or impossible material, or device needed to fulfill a given design for a given application. The properties of any particular unobtainium depend on the intended use...
and grow into a giantess
Giantess
A giantess is a female giant. The term may refer either a mythical being resembling a woman of superhuman size and strength or a human woman of exceptional stature, often the result of some medical or genetic abnormality ....
. Alerted to the meteorite crash by first an Arctic base then Susan's dad, the military arrive and capture Susan, who is labeled "Ginormica" and sent to a top-secret prison facility headed by General W.R. Monger (Kiefer Sutherland
Kiefer Sutherland
Kiefer Sutherland is an English-born Canadian actor, producer and director, best known for his portrayal of Jack Bauer on the Fox thriller drama series 24 for which he has won an Emmy Award , a Golden Globe award , two Screen Actors Guild Awards and two Satellite...
) where she meets her fellow monster inmates: B.O.B. (Seth Rogen
Seth Rogen
Seth Rogen is a Canadian stand-up comedian, actor, producer, screenwriter, and voice artist. Rogen began his career doing stand-up comedy during his teen years, winning the Vancouver Amateur Comedy Contest in 1998. While still living in his native Vancouver, he landed a small part in Freaks and...
), a brainless, indestructible gelatinous blob; Dr. Cockroach, PhD (Hugh Laurie
Hugh Laurie
James Hugh Calum Laurie, OBE , better known as Hugh Laurie , is an English actor, voice artist, comedian, writer, musician, recording artist, and director...
), a mad scientist with the head and abilities of a cockroach
Cockroach
Cockroaches are insects of the order Blattaria or Blattodea, of which about 30 species out of 4,500 total are associated with human habitations...
; the Missing Link
Missing Link
Missing link is a nonscientific term for any transitional fossil, especially one connected with human evolution; see Transitional fossil - Missing links and List of transitonal fossils - Human evolution.Missing Link may refer to:...
(Will Arnett
Will Arnett
William Emerson "Will" Arnett is a Canadian actor and comedian best known for his role as George Oscar "G.O.B." Bluth II on the Fox comedy Arrested Development. He is also known for his role as Devon Banks on the NBC comedy 30 Rock. Since his success on Arrested Development, Arnett has landed major...
), an amphibious fish-ape hybrid; and Insectosaurus, a massive grub
Larva
A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...
that is larger than Susan.
An alien
Extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
named Gallaxhar (Rainn Wilson
Rainn Wilson
Rainn Dietrich Wilson is an American actor and comedian. He is primarily known for his role as the egomaniacal Dwight Schrute on the American version of the television comedy The Office...
) detects the quantonium radiation emanating from Earth and deploys a gigantic robotic probe to find it. The President of the United States (Stephen Colbert
Stephen Colbert
Stephen Tyrone Colbert is an American political satirist, writer, comedian, television host, and actor. He is the host of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, a satirical news show in which Colbert portrays a caricatured version of conservative political pundits.Colbert originally studied to be an...
) attempts to make first contact
First contact (science fiction)
First contact is a common science fiction theme about the first meeting between humans and extraterrestrial life, or of any sentient race's first encounter with another one....
with the alien robot, which begins destroying everything in sight, impervious to any weapons. General Monger convinces the President to use the monsters to fight the robot instead. The monsters accept the mission with the promise of freedom if they succeed. Arriving in San Francisco, Susan is chased by the robot across the city to the Golden Gate Bridge
Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening of the San Francisco Bay into the Pacific Ocean. As part of both U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1, the structure links the city of San Francisco, on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, to...
, where the monsters are able to defeat the robot.
Now free, Susan returns to her hometown and introduces her family to the monsters, but they are quickly rejected after innocently causing a panic in the neighborhood. Derek, meanwhile, breaks up with Susan, claiming that he cannot be married to a freak who would overshadow his career. At first devastated, Susan begins to realize that becoming a monster has improved her life, and fully embraces her new lifestyle. Suddenly, she is abducted by Gallaxhar, who seemingly kills Insectosaurus when he tries to save her. On Gallaxhar's spaceship, Susan breaks loose and chases Gallaxhar down, only to enter a machine that extracts the quantonium from her body, shrinking her to her normal size. Gallaxhar proceeds to use the quantonium to power a cloning machine which reproduces him into an army so he can invade Earth.
With assistance from General Monger, B.O.B., Dr. Cockroach, and the Missing Link infiltrate Gallaxhar's spaceship, rescue Susan, and hot-wire the spaceship's power core, activating the self-destruct sequence. During their escape, Susan is cut off from her friends, who are trapped in the power core. They tell her to save herself, but Susan instead confronts Gallaxhar, who tries to escape with the quantonium, and attempts to force him into releasing her friends. When Gallaxhar says he cannot reverse the sequence, Susan absorbs the quantonium, restoring herself to giant size and she saves her friends. The monsters leap out of the exploding spaceship and are rescued by General Monger on the back of the revived Insectosaurus, who has metamorphosed
Metamorphosis
Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops after birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and differentiation...
into a butterfly
Butterfly
A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...
.
The monsters receive a hero's welcome home. Derek tries to get back with Susan for the sake of an interview that could benefit his career. Instead, Susan rejects him by throwing him in the air where he is caught, swallowed and spit out by B.O.B. on camera. The monsters are then alerted to a giant snail named Escargantua attacking near Paris and fly off to face the new menace.
Monsters
- Reese WitherspoonReese WitherspoonLaura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon , better known as Reese Witherspoon, is an American actress and film producer. Witherspoon landed her first feature role as the female lead in the film The Man in the Moon in 1991; later that year she made her television acting debut, in the cable movie Wildflower...
as Susan Murphy/Ginormica, a normal woman who is hit by a radioactive meteor on her wedding day, causing her to mutate and grow to a heightGiantessA giantess is a female giant. The term may refer either a mythical being resembling a woman of superhuman size and strength or a human woman of exceptional stature, often the result of some medical or genetic abnormality ....
of 49 in 11 in (15.21 m). Meek and unassertive, she just wants to return to her old life, but gradually warms up to her new status as a monster. In addition to her size, she is amazingly strong and has a resistance to energy attacks. She serves as the film's central character. - Seth RogenSeth RogenSeth Rogen is a Canadian stand-up comedian, actor, producer, screenwriter, and voice artist. Rogen began his career doing stand-up comedy during his teen years, winning the Vancouver Amateur Comedy Contest in 1998. While still living in his native Vancouver, he landed a small part in Freaks and...
as B.O.B. (Benzoate Ostylezene Bicarbonate), an indestructible gelatinous mass created when a genetically-altered tomato (which he referred to in the Halloween special as his mother) was injected with a chemically-altered ranch dessert topping. His greatest strength lies in his ability to digest any substance as well as being indestructible. His one weakness is that his mutation did not give him a brain ("Turns out, you don't need one!"), making him incredibly dimwitted, such as sometimes mistaking the other monsters' goals in life for his own. His main goal in life is to digest things. - Hugh LaurieHugh LaurieJames Hugh Calum Laurie, OBE , better known as Hugh Laurie , is an English actor, voice artist, comedian, writer, musician, recording artist, and director...
as Dr. Cockroach, PhD, a brilliant but mad scientistMad scientistA mad scientist is a stock character of popular fiction, specifically science fiction. The mad scientist may be villainous or antagonistic, benign or neutral, and whether insane, eccentric, or simply bumbling, mad scientists often work with fictional technology in order to forward their schemes, if...
who, in an experiment to imbue himself with the abilities of a cockroachCockroachCockroaches are insects of the order Blattaria or Blattodea, of which about 30 species out of 4,500 total are associated with human habitations...
, ending up with a giant cockroach's head and some cockroach personality, but gained the ability to climb up walls and high resistance to physical damage. He is charming and sophisticated in spite of his tendencies to eat garbageWasteWaste is unwanted or useless materials. In biology, waste is any of the many unwanted substances or toxins that are expelled from living organisms, metabolic waste; such as urea, sweat or feces. Litter is waste which has been disposed of improperly...
and laugh maniacally, working to help Susan learn more about her condition while in captivity. He is also an avid dancer, which was handy in overriding the ship security system. - Will ArnettWill ArnettWilliam Emerson "Will" Arnett is a Canadian actor and comedian best known for his role as George Oscar "G.O.B." Bluth II on the Fox comedy Arrested Development. He is also known for his role as Devon Banks on the NBC comedy 30 Rock. Since his success on Arrested Development, Arnett has landed major...
as The Missing Link, a 20,000-year-old fish-ape hybrid who was found frozen and thawed out, only to escape and wreak havoc at his old lagoon habitat. Usually referred to as Link, he behaves as a macho jock most of the time, but is out of shape. Despite this, he is an expert martial-artist and takes it upon himself to lead the team in attacks, even if his energetic attitude does not always work to their advantage. - Conrad VernonConrad VernonConrad Vernon IV is an American director, writer, and voice actor, best known for his work on the DreamWorks animated films Shrek 2 and Monsters vs...
as Insectosaurus, formerly a 1 inches (2.5 cm) grub transformed by nuclear radiation into a 350 feet (106.7 m) monster with the ability to shoot silk out of his nose. He is unable to speak clearly, and is mesmerized by bright lights (usually used to lead him to other locations); He also has a close bond with the Missing Link, who can understand what Insectosaurus is saying. As Butterflysaurus, he has wings and is able to fly and becomes the Monsters' mode of transportation.
Aliens
- Rainn WilsonRainn WilsonRainn Dietrich Wilson is an American actor and comedian. He is primarily known for his role as the egomaniacal Dwight Schrute on the American version of the television comedy The Office...
as Gallaxhar, an evil alien overlord who hopes to take over Earth. He is served by gigantic robot probes (around the same size as Insectosaurus) and possesses a giant cloning machine. He claims to have suffered several traumas in his youth, driving him to destroy his own homeworld, and plans to make a new one on Earth – although viewers never hear most of the story. He aims to collect quantonium – the substance that transformed Susan – to give his cloning machine enough power to generate an army of clones of himself to conquer Earth, and is determined to extract it from Susan. Gallaxhar serves as the main antagonistAntagonistAn antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...
of the film. - Amy PoehlerAmy PoehlerAmy Meredith Poehler is an American comedian, actress and voice actress. She was a cast member on the NBC television entertainment show Saturday Night Live from 2001 to 2008. In 2004, she starred in the film Mean Girls with Tina Fey, with whom she worked again in Baby Mama in 2008. She is...
as Gallaxhar's Computer, a user-friendly computer that follows his orders, albeit with a sarcastic tone.
Humans
- Kiefer SutherlandKiefer SutherlandKiefer Sutherland is an English-born Canadian actor, producer and director, best known for his portrayal of Jack Bauer on the Fox thriller drama series 24 for which he has won an Emmy Award , a Golden Globe award , two Screen Actors Guild Awards and two Satellite...
as General Warren R. Monger, a military leader who runs a top secret facility where monsters are kept. It is his plan to fight the invading aliens with the imprisoned monsters. In a scene during the credits, he claims to be 90 years old, in spite of his youthful appearance. His name is a pun on the word warmongerWarmongerA warmonger is a pejorative term that is used to describe someone who is eager to encourage a people or nation to go to war.The term may also refer to:* Warmonger, a 2002 novel based on the Doctor Who television series...
. Despite imprisoning the "monsters", he never shows them any particular disrespect, and upholds his part of the bargain to set them free when they defeat the alien probe. Later on, having helped the team infiltrate the ship, he comes back for them on Insectosaurus, just as he promised. At the end of the film, Gen. Monger is promoted to the President's senior security staff. - Stephen ColbertStephen ColbertStephen Tyrone Colbert is an American political satirist, writer, comedian, television host, and actor. He is the host of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, a satirical news show in which Colbert portrays a caricatured version of conservative political pundits.Colbert originally studied to be an...
as President Hathaway, the impulsive and dimwitted President of the United States. Not wanting to be remembered as "the President in office when the world came to an end," he agrees with General Monger's "monsters vs. aliens" plan. He is very tolerant of the use of weapons, firing repeatedly—and pointlessly—at the original alien probe. He even suggests using nuclear weapons to attack the aliens, only to be stopped every time by his more-reliable staff. Colbert's performance as Hathaway is distinctly similar to the caricature of himselfStephen Colbert (character)The Reverend / Sir / Dr. / Stephen T. Colbert, D.F.A., brain-child of Google, is the persona of political satirist Stephen Colbert, as portrayed on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report. Described as a "well-intentioned, poorly informed high-status idiot", the character is a self-obsessed right-wing...
that he portrays on his Comedy CentralComedy CentralComedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
series, The Colbert Report. - Paul RuddPaul RuddPaul Stephen Rudd is an American actor and screenwriter. He has primarily appeared in comedies, and is known for his roles in the films Clueless, Wet Hot American Summer, Anchorman, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Dinner for Schmucks, The Object of My...
as Derek Dietl, a local weatherman and Susan's ex-fiancé. He jumps at whatever opportunity he has to boost his career, which causes him to place himself before his relationship with Susan (he cancels their plans to have a romantic honeymoon in Paris to land an anchorman job in FresnoFresno, CaliforniaFresno is a city in central California, United States, the county seat of Fresno County. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 510,365, making it the fifth largest city in California, the largest inland city in California, and the 34th largest in the nation...
, for example). After she sees him as the self-obsessedNarcissismNarcissism is a term with a wide range of meanings, depending on whether it is used to describe a central concept of psychoanalytic theory, a mental illness, a social or cultural problem, or simply a personality trait...
man he really is, she effectively turns him down by publicly humiliating him during his attempted interview with her. - Jeffrey TamborJeffrey TamborJeffrey Michael Tambor is an American actor, perhaps best known for his roles as George Bluth Sr. and Oscar Bluth on Arrested Development and Hank Kingsley on The Larry Sanders Show.-Early life:...
as Carl Murphy, Susan's over-emotional father. - Julie WhiteJulie WhiteJulie White is an American actress. She is known for her role in Grace Under Fire and for her role as Judy Witwicky in the Transformers film series.-Personal life:...
as Wendy Murphy, Susan's loving mother. - Renée ZellwegerRenée ZellwegerRenée Kathleen Zellweger is an American actress and producer. Zellweger first gained widespread attention for her role in the film Jerry Maguire , and subsequently received two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her roles as Bridget Jones in the comedy Bridget Jones's Diary ...
as Katie, an adventurous human girl. Her date with her boyfriend Cuthbert is interrupted by the landing of Gallaxhar's robot. - John KrasinskiJohn KrasinskiJohn Burke Krasinski is an American actor, film director, and writer. He is most widely known for playing Jim Halpert on the NBC sitcom The Office...
as Cuthbert, Katie's more timid boyfriend. - Ed HelmsEd HelmsEdward Paul "Ed" Helms is an American actor and comedian known for his work as a correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, as Andy Bernard on the US version of the sitcom/mockumentary The Office and for his role as Dr. Stu Price in The Hangover films.- Early life :Helms was born and raised...
as News Reporter - David Koch as newsreader who comically notes how aliens only ever seem to appear in America (voice-over only in the Australian Edit).
Production
Ed Leonard, CTO of DreamWorks Animation, says it took approximately 45.6 million computing hours to make Monsters vs. Aliens, more than eight times as many as the original ShrekShrek
Shrek is a 2001 American computer-animated fantasy comedy film directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, featuring the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and John Lithgow. Loosely based on William Steig's 1990 fairy tale picture book Shrek!...
. Several hundred Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...
xw8600 workstations were used, along with a large and powerful 'render farm
Render farm
A render farm is a computer cluster built to render computer-generated imagery , typically for film and television visual effects, using off-line batch processing. This is different from a render wall, which is a networked, tiled display used for real-time rendering...
' of HP ProLiant blade server
Blade server
A blade server is a stripped down server computer with a modular design optimized to minimize the use of physical space and energy. Whereas a standard rack-mount server can function with a power cord and network cable, blade servers have many components removed to save space, minimize power...
s with over 9,000 server processor cores, to process the animation sequence. The movie demanded 120 terabytes of data to complete, with one explosion scene alone requiring 6 TB.
Since Monsters vs. Aliens, all feature films released by DreamWorks Animation will be produced in a stereoscopic
Stereoscopy
Stereoscopy refers to a technique for creating or enhancing the illusion of depth in an image by presenting two offset images separately to the left and right eye of the viewer. Both of these 2-D offset images are then combined in the brain to give the perception of 3-D depth...
3-D format, using Intel's InTru3D
InTru3D
InTru3D is a brand that identifies content that may be viewed in stereoscopic 3D. Motion pictures or other visual media bearing the brand are developed through animation technology developed by Intel Corporation in partnership with DreamWorks Animation in 2008...
technology. IMAX 3D, RealD and 2D versions were released.
Marketing
The teaser trailer had two versions that show General W.R. Monger's plan to use the monsters to defeat the aliens. The first version was seen on the Kung Fu PandaKung Fu Panda
Kung Fu Panda is a 2008 American computer-animated action comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures...
DVD and the other version was shown with Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. A full-length trailer was launched on the Internet on December 23, 2008.
To promote the 3-D technology that is used in Monsters vs. Aliens, DreamWorks ran a 3-D trailer before halftime in the U.S. broadcast of Super Bowl XLIII
Super Bowl XLIII
Super Bowl XLIII was an American football game pitting the American Football Conference champion Pittsburgh Steelers against the National Football Conference champion Arizona Cardinals to decide the National Football League champion for the 2008 season. The game was played on February 1, 2009,...
on February 1, 2009. Due to the limitations of current television technology, ColorCode 3D glasses were distributed at SoBe
SoBe
SoBe is a brand of teas, fruit-juice blends and enhanced water beverages owned by PepsiCo. The name SoBe is an abbreviation of South Beach, named after the upscale area located in Miami Beach, Florida. In the past, the SoBe name has also been licensed for gum and chocolate products...
stands at major national grocers. The Monsters, except Susan and Insectosaurus, also appeared in a 3-D SoBe commercial airing after the trailer. Bank of America
Bank of America
Bank of America Corporation, an American multinational banking and financial services corporation, is the second largest bank holding company in the United States by assets, and the fourth largest bank in the U.S. by market capitalization. The bank is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina...
gave away vouchers which covered the cost of an upgrade to a 3-D theatrical viewing of the film for its customers.
Critical reception
Based on 206 reviews collected by Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, Monsters vs. Aliens has an overall approval rating from critics of 72%, with an average score of 6.5/10. Among Rotten Tomatoes' Cream of the Crop, which consists of popular and notable critics from the top newspapers, websites, television, and radio programs, the film holds an overall approval rating of 58% based on 36 reviews. By comparison, on Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an average score of 56, based on 35 reviews. Roger Ebert gave the film a mixed review, saying "I suppose kids will like this movie", but said "I didn't find the movie rich with humor."
Box office
On its opening weekend, the film opened at No. 1, grossing $59.3 million in 4,104 theaters. Of that total, the film grossed an estimated $5.2 million in IMAXIMAX
IMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of proprietary cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...
theaters, becoming the 5th highest-grossing IMAX debut, behind Star Trek, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is a 2009 American science fiction-action film directed by Michael Bay and produced by Steven Spielberg. It is the sequel to the 2007 film Transformers and the second installment in the live-action Transformers series...
, The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight (film)
The Dark Knight is a 2008 superhero film directed, produced and co-written by Christopher Nolan. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, the film is part of Nolan's Batman film series and a sequel to 2005's Batman Begins...
and Watchmen
Watchmen (film)
Watchmen is a 2009 superhero film directed by Zack Snyder and starring Malin Åkerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Patrick Wilson. It is an adaptation of the comic book of the same name by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons...
. The movie made $198,351,526 in the United States and Canada making it the second-highest grossing animated movie behind Up
Up (2009 film)
Up is a 2009 American computer-animated comedy-adventure film produced by Pixar, distributed by Walt Disney Pictures and presented in Disney Digital 3-D. The film premiered on May 29, 2009 in North America and opened the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, becoming the first animated and 3D film...
. Worldwide, it is the third-highest grossing animated film of 2009 with a total of $383,466,166 behind Up and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, also known as Ice Age 3, is a 2009 3-D computer animated film. It is the third installment of the Ice Age series, produced by Blue Sky Studios and distributed by 20th Century Fox...
. According to Boxofficemojo.com the film cost $175 million to develop.
Awards
On 2010, the films is nominated for 4 Annie Awards, including Voice Acting in a Feature Production for Hugh Laurie.Reese Witherspoon
Reese Witherspoon
Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon , better known as Reese Witherspoon, is an American actress and film producer. Witherspoon landed her first feature role as the female lead in the film The Man in the Moon in 1991; later that year she made her television acting debut, in the cable movie Wildflower...
and Seth Rogen
Seth Rogen
Seth Rogen is a Canadian stand-up comedian, actor, producer, screenwriter, and voice artist. Rogen began his career doing stand-up comedy during his teen years, winning the Vancouver Amateur Comedy Contest in 1998. While still living in his native Vancouver, he landed a small part in Freaks and...
were both nominated for best voice actor at the 2010 Kid's Choice Awards for voicing Susan and B.O.B, but lost to Jim Carrey
Jim Carrey
James Eugene "Jim" Carrey is a Canadian-American actor and comedian. He has received two Golden Globe Awards and has also been nominated on four occasions. Carrey began comedy in 1979, performing at Yuk Yuk's in Toronto, Ontario...
for Disney's A Christmas Carol. Monsters Vs Aliens was also nominated for Best Animated film but lost to Up
Up (2009 film)
Up is a 2009 American computer-animated comedy-adventure film produced by Pixar, distributed by Walt Disney Pictures and presented in Disney Digital 3-D. The film premiered on May 29, 2009 in North America and opened the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, becoming the first animated and 3D film...
. On June 24, 2009 the film won the Saturn Award for Best Animated Film
Saturn Award for Best Animated Film
The following are a list of Saturn Award winners for Best Animated Film:-Winners:...
.
| Awards | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Award | Category | Name | Outcome |
| Annie Awards 37th Annie Awards The 37th Annual Annie Awards, honoring the best in animation for 2009, were held on February 6, 2010 at Royce Hall in Los Angeles, California.-Best Animated Feature:*Up*Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs*Coraline*Fantastic Mr... |
Annie Award for Best Animated Effects in an Animated Production | Scott Cegielski | |
| Annie Award for Best Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production | Tom Owens | ||
| Annie Award for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production | Hugh Laurie Hugh Laurie James Hugh Calum Laurie, OBE , better known as Hugh Laurie , is an English actor, voice artist, comedian, writer, musician, recording artist, and director... |
||
| Kids' Choice Awards 2010 Kids' Choice Awards Nickelodeon's 23rd Annual Kids' Choice Awards were held on March 27, 2010 on the Nell and John Wooden Court of Pauley Pavilion, on the campus of UCLA in Los Angeles, California... |
Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie | Seth Rogen Seth Rogen Seth Rogen is a Canadian stand-up comedian, actor, producer, screenwriter, and voice artist. Rogen began his career doing stand-up comedy during his teen years, winning the Vancouver Amateur Comedy Contest in 1998. While still living in his native Vancouver, he landed a small part in Freaks and... |
|
| Saturn Awards 36th Saturn Awards The 36th Saturn Awards, honoring the best in science fiction, fantasy and horror film and television in 2009 were presented on June 24, 2010, in Burbank, California. The most awards of the night were won by Avatar, winning all ten of its nominations... |
Saturn Award for Best Animated Film Saturn Award for Best Animated Film The following are a list of Saturn Award winners for Best Animated Film:-Winners:... |
Rob Letterman Conrad Vernon |
|
| Visual Effects Society Visual Effects Society The Visual Effects Society is the entertainment industry's only organization representing the full breadth of visual effects practitioners including artists, animators, technologists, model makers, educators, studio leaders, supervisors, PR/marketing specialists and producers in all areas of... |
Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Effects Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture | David P. Allen Amaury Aubel Scott Cegielski Alain De Hoe |
|
Home media
Monsters vs. Aliens was released to DVD and Blu-rayBlu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
in the US and Canada on September 29, 2009 and on October 26, 2009 in the UK. The home release for both the DVD and Blu-ray format only contain the 2D version of the movie. However, the release is packaged with a new short, B.O.B.'s Big Break
B.O.B.'s Big Break
B.O.B's Big Break is a 3D animated short film based on the 2009 computer-animated film Monsters vs. Aliens. The short premiered on Nickelodeon in 2D on September 26, 2009, and was released three days later in 2D and 3D on the Monsters vs. Aliens Blu-ray and the double DVD pack.B.O.B., Dr....
, which is the more traditional 3D that required green and magenta glasses. Also included are four pairs of 3D glasses. As of November 29, 2009 the DVD has sold 4,431,584 million copies generating $73.79 million in sales so far. On January 6, 2010, it was announced that a 3D version will be released on Blu-ray
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
. On February 24, a tentative March release date was set for the UK, where anyone who buys a Samsung 3D TV or 3D Blu-ray player will get a copy. On March 8, it was reported that the 3D Blu-ray will be released in the United States, also with Samsung 3D products, on March 21.
Video games
A video game was released on March 24, 2009 on Microsoft WindowsMicrosoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
, Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
, Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
, PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
, and Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
. The game, developed by Beenox
Beenox
Beenox is a video game developer, established in Québec City, Québec. Founded in 2000 by Dominique Brown. Beenox has been awarded with the Quebec's Best Employer 2008 title and is among the Top 50 of the World’s best video game developers published in March 2008 by the Game Developers Research...
and Amaze Entertainment
Amaze Entertainment
Amaze Entertainment was a video game developer from the United States that sold over 100 games in its ten-year history , for several video game platforms, with headquarters located in Kirkland, Washington. Amaze’s primary focus was licensed games based on movie franchises, comic series, and...
, allows users to play through scenes from the movie as Ginormica, B.O.B., and The Missing Link, and features drop-in/out co-op. Players can play as Dr. Cockroach, PhD in multiplayer co-op, as well as Insectosaurus on the Nintendo DS version of the game. The music was composed by Jim Dooley
James Dooley (composer)
James Michael Dooley is a film score composer. Dooley studied music at New York University, majoring in music composition. After finishing the university he moved to Los Angeles, where he studied music with prolific film score composers Christopher Young, Elmer Bernstein and Leonard Rosenman...
, with live brass recorded at the Warner Brothers Eastwood Scoring Stage. The Monsters Vs. Aliens Videogame has garnered a Metacritic score of 63 for the Xbox 360 version of the title.
Another video game entitled Super Star Kartz
Super Star Kartz
Super Star Kartz is a racing game based on DreamWorks Animation's Shrek, Madagascar, Monsters vs. Aliens and How to Train Your Dragon. It was released on November 15, 2011. The game uses the Wii Wheel, despite the cover.- Gameplay :...
was released by Activision on November 15, 2011, for PlayStation 3, XBox 360, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, and Nintendo 3DS. The game features 14 different characters from DreamWorks' films – Monsters vs. Aliens, Madagascar, Shrek, and How To Train Your Dragon
How to Train Your Dragon (franchise)
The How to Train Your Dragon franchise from DreamWorks Animation consists of one feature film How to Train Your Dragon , with one sequel in development for a 2014 release. Part of the franchise are also three short films: Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon , Book of Dragons , and Gift of the Night Fury...
.
Soundtrack
Television pilot
Jeffrey KatzenbergJeffrey Katzenberg
Jeffrey Katzenberg is an American film producer and CEO of DreamWorks Animation. He is perhaps most famous for his period as chairman of The Walt Disney Company's film division, and for producing DreamWorks animated films such as Shrek, Antz, The Prince of Egypt, The Road to El Dorado, Chicken...
announced that Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (TV channel)
Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...
has ordered a pilot for a Monsters vs. Aliens cartoon series.
Sequel
Despite its success in the United States market, DreamWorks Animation's CEO, Jeffrey KatzenbergJeffrey Katzenberg
Jeffrey Katzenberg is an American film producer and CEO of DreamWorks Animation. He is perhaps most famous for his period as chairman of The Walt Disney Company's film division, and for producing DreamWorks animated films such as Shrek, Antz, The Prince of Egypt, The Road to El Dorado, Chicken...
was quoted in the Los Angeles Times that a sequel would not be made because of the film's weak performance in some key international markets. "There was enough of a consensus from our distribution and marketing folks in certain parts of the world that 'doing a sequel' would be pushing a boulder up a hill." After the release of Megamind, Katzenberg commented Shark Tale
Shark Tale
Shark Tale is a 2004 American computer-animated comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation. In the story, a young fish named Oscar falsely claims to have killed the son of a shark mob boss to win favour with the mob boss' enemies and advance his own community standing...
, Monsters vs. Aliens, and Megamind: "All shared an approach and tone and idea of parody, and did not travel well internationally. We don’t have anything like that coming on our schedule now."
Monsters vs. Aliens: B.O.B.'s Big Break
B.O.B's Big Break is a 3D animated short film. The short premiered on NickelodeonNickelodeon (TV channel)
Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...
in 2D on September 26, 2009, and was released 3 days later in 2D and 3D on the Monsters vs Aliens Blu-ray
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
and the double DVD pack.
B.O.B., Dr. Cockroach, PhD, and The Missing Link are trying to outwit General W.R. Monger to escape from Area 52, the government's top-secret holding cell. Cockroach's escape attempt by feeding B.O.B. a chemical mixture to turn him into a bomb results in B.O.B. temporarily acquiring the ability to read minds, and allowing them to find out about a secret exit from Area 52. Unfortunately, the plan fails when B.O.B. smashes the jet they were using to escape believing it to be a piñata
Piñata
A piñata is a papier-mâché or other type of container that is decorated, filled with toys and or candy and then broken as part of a ceremony or celebration. Piñatas are most commonly associated with Mexico, but its origins are considered to be in China...
, with the resulting explosion erasing B.O.B.'s new power.
Monsters vs. Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space
A Halloween special entitled Monsters vs. Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space premiered in Ireland on RTÉ OneRTÉ One
RTÉ One is the flagship television channel of Raidió Teilifís Éireann , and it is the most popular and most watched television channel in Ireland. It was launched as Telefís Éireann on 31 December 1961, it was renamed RTÉ Television in 1966, and it was renamed as RTÉ One upon the launch of RTÉ...
on October 26, 2009, and aired in USA on the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
channel on October 28, 2009. The special was released on DVD in the UK on the October 16, 2010, and is set to have US releases on September 13, 2011, and on September 27, 2011, along with Scared Shrekless
Scared Shrekless
Scared Shrekless is a 21-minute Halloween television special, set shortly after the events of Shrek Forever After, that premiered on the American television network NBC on Thursday, October 28, 2010....
.
Susan and the fellow monsters go back to Susan's home in Modesto, Ca; just in time for Halloween celebrations. Susan spends time with her parents, while the other monsters join in trick-or-treating and collect a large amount of candies. Later, it is revealed that the monsters came to destroy mutant pumpkins disguised as Jack-o-lanterns. When the pumpkins begin to eat children's candies to grow larger, the monsters and children defeat them by throwing excessive candies to bloat them up and explode them. But, in a twist ending, some of the pumpkin "blood" (a green goo that mutated the ordinary pumpkins) falls into a planting of carrots, causing a mutant carrot to be formed.
Monsters vs. Aliens: Night of the Living Carrots
Monsters vs. Aliens: Night of the Living Carrots is a 13-minute 3D Halloween short film based on Monsters vs. Aliens, and a sequel to Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space. First part of the short premiered on October 13, 2011, and the second part five days later, for a limited time, exclusively on the Nintendo 3DSNintendo 3DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo. The autostereoscopic device is able to project stereoscopic 3D effects without the use of 3D glasses or any additional accessories. The Nintendo 3DS features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS series software, including Nintendo DSi software...
video service.
Following the cliff hanger at the end of the short, Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space, The Mutated Carrot has spawned hundreds of zombie carrots which once they bite a victim they take control of the subject's mind. Dr. Cockroach determines that the only way to defeat the carrots and free their victims is for B.O.B. to eat all of the carrots (specifically because B.O.B. has no brain and thus is immune to the carrots' mind control powers), which B.O.B eventually, albeit reluctantly, does. A cliff hanger at the end of the short shows B.O.B. being turned into a giant zombie carrot.