The CGI animated film genre just keeps getting better and better for film audiences... and that trend continues with Dreamworks' latest witty and eye-popping offering, "Monsters VS Aliens".

    Don't let the film's somewhat simplistic title fool you.  This is one incredibly complex, funny and superbly entertaining film that truly has something for everyone - young and old alike.   

   The story begins innocently enough as we see a young bride named Susan ( voiced by Reese Witherspoon ) on her wedding day... about to marry what she thinks is her dream man, an ambitious and hilariously pompous small time TV weatherman.  We - the audience - knows she's about to make a terrible mistake... but Susan is totally in love with this self-centered weasel and blind to his flaws.  

   But, Susan's big day... and future takes an unexpected turn when a giant glowing meteorite smashes outside the wedding church... and it's radiation turns poor petite Susan into a 50 foot tall giant at the altar.   The scene where her sudden growth spurt smashes her through the roof of the church... sending her horrified wedding guests and groom scrambling is just the first of many great laughs in this film. 

   In fact, one can't help but wonder how Susan's wedding dress just happens to split and shred into pieces as she grows... but yet, it manages to stay intact in all the right modest places.  Well, after all - this is a PG-13 movie.

   This scene is just the first of a non-stop barrage of 50's B-monster movie homages, sight gags... and slick, witty pop-culture dialogue references that keep this film moving at a red-hot pace from start to finish.  Susan starts off as a bumbling, frightened version of "The Attack of the 50 Foot Woman"... and what comes next is a scene straight out of "Gulliver's Travels"... as an army of soldiers and military types surround the now giant Susan... and literally take her down with a giant hypodermic needle sedative and dozens of cables.  

   When she wakes up, Susan finds herself locked in a super-secret government holding facility that specializes in hiding Earth's monsters from the public.   Think "X-Files" meets "Area 51"... with a dash of government cover-up paranoia.

    It's here Susan - now renamed "Ginormica" by the military.... meets her new friends and cell mates.   They're an odd group befitting their monster status... but with a cuddly edge.   There's "Dr. Cockroach, PhD" ( Hugh Laurie ) a half man - half insect super scientist who got that way via experimenting on himself.   Joining the quartet of monstrous misfits is "The Missing Link" ( Will Arnett ). a half-man, half-fish creature who delights in scaring bikini-clad babes at the beach. 

   There's the silent but gigantic "Insectosaurus", who's horrifying size is offset by his humongously sad puppy dog eyes.   Finally, there's  B.O.B ( hilariously voiced by Seth Rogen ) a brainlessly goofy blob of blue, translucent goo... that looks like the love-child born of a vat of blueberry Jello and hair-gel.   Rogen's character is a scene stealer in this film... with his clueless comments and observations... and his pursuit to get the phone number of a dish of lime Jello that he's cluelessly become enamored of.

   The plot heats up when a giant killer robot is dispatched to Earth by a deliciously evil, giant headed, four-eyed tentacled alien named Gallaxhar ( Rainn Wilson )  Gallaxhar wants to reclaim the radiation that made Susan a giant... and, oh yeah - clone millions of copies of himself, enslave the Earth and experiment on it's people.   But don't worry... as Gallaxhar deadpans his intentions to the world... "It's not personal... It's just business".

   That's when Susan / Ginormica and her new comrades are recruited by General W.R. Monger ( Keifer Sutherland ) to defeat the robot and Gallaxhar and save the world.   What follows is a film chock full of truly spectacular scenes as thrilling as any live action, adventure blockbuster.   The action sequences in this film are truly a riveting sight to behold.  

   A battle between Susan, the killer alien robot and the Golden Gate Bridge is as spellbinding as anything involving real actors and CGI special effects in most disaster films we've seen in recent years.   A later battle inside Gallaxhar's mammoth mother craft evokes a epic scope of a "Star Wars" film and "Independence Day".

   It's those the rapid-fire barrage of visual and dialogue references peppered throughout "Monsters VS Aliens" that will have adults... and especially true film buffs howling with delight.   Only in a clever film like this one can you have obvious homages to "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "Beverly Hills Cop"... coupled with more subtle sight gags that only true film fans of B-horror flicks will get. 

    Watch for one especially fun visual "tip of the hat" to that 50"s film monster classic "The Blob".  If you blink... you might miss it. 

    But, that's what so fun about "Monsters VS Aliens".   It so full of great action, snappy and funny dialogue... and so many film homages and references.... you'll gladly need to go see it again... just to catch something you might have missed the first time.   There definitely sequel potential with this film.

    Finally, I saw this film at a regular screening in 2-D.   In that format alone... it's a "must see" film.   However, "Monsters VS Aliens" is being shown to general audiences in 3-D and IMAX as well.   After seeing it in the regular format... this is one film that I guarantee will be dazzling in 3-D. 

   This is a film that adults will love and enjoy for the witty fun and dazzling effects... and the kids will be equally enthralled.   Following Pixar's hugely successful "WALL-E".... Dreamworks has more than answered the challenge with "Monsters VS Aliens"

   The DVD is sure to filled with great extras and "behind the scenes" featurettes about the making of this wonderfully entertaining and imaginative film.  

   I'm going back for a second thrilling ride with Ginormica and crew... except, I'll be able to enjoy it over and over on my plasma screen TV... and, you can too if you grab this funny and imaginative film, "Monsters VS Aliens" on DVD.