Story

Themes

Destruction of earth; separation from family; aliens

Violence

There is some violence in this movie. For example:

• Susan is roped, felled and tranquilised by the military shortly after becoming a giant. She manages to throw the offending tranquiliser dart at a soldier, piercing his foot.
• Susan beats Dr Cockroach with her spoon.
• B.O.B. is thrown by Susan.
• The President says, ‘Do something violent’, so the military fire on the alien robot probe.
• The President fires his pistol at the probe.
• A dart is fired from off camera at a presidential aide, hitting him in the neck.
• Dr Cockroach performs experiments on Susan and electrocutes her.
• B.O.B. is repeatedly stood on by the alien probe.
• The probe pursues Susan through the city by smashing its way through buildings, scattering cars and debris as it goes. Susan and the probe fight on the Golden Arch Bridge. There is a lot of physical contact between them, and people in cars (as well as the other monsters) get caught up in the battle. The bridge is eventually destroyed, and the probe’s head is severed.
• Another alien probe attacks Susan and Insectosaurus (a monster). The audience is led to believe that Insectosaurus dies as a result.
• Susan is caught and trapped in a glass unit where quantonium is extracted from her, causing her to shrink back to her previous size.
• Galaxar grabs Susan by her neck and throws her onto the floor.
• Galaxar’s ship shoots down the Airforce One aeroplane.
• A cloned version of Galaxar detains Susan and forces her to the incinerator at gun point.
• The group of monsters come to the notice of the clones, and a battle begins with gunfire and physical fighting.
• A clone trying to surface through a manhole cover is hit back down with it and squashed.
• An alien probe tries to destroy Susan by stomping on her.
• Susan flicks her ex-fiancé, Derek, into the air in anger and annoyance. He is caught and swallowed by B.O.B., who spits him back out.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie. For example:

• ‘It’s a boy. Look at its boobies.’
• The General holds up his hands while describing Susan, to represent her breast size.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

There is some use of substances in this movie. For example, Dr Cockroach makes a cocktail drink that explodes.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie. For example:

• One of the government officials needs to scan several parts of his body, including his naked bottom, to gain access to the command centre.
• Susan and Derek kiss. On one occasion, the giant version of Susan almost sucks Derek into her mouth.
• One of the aides in the command centre has his underpants pulled up out of his trousers and is given a ‘wedgie’.

Product placement

None of concern

Coarse language

This movie contains some mild coarse language.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Monsters vs. Aliens is an animated action/science-fiction movie, which is not suitable for very young children.

The main messages from this movie are:

• Believe in yourself and stand by your morals.
• Good will conquer evil.

Values in this movie that you might wish to reinforce with your children include:

• courage and persistence
• friendship and acceptance of differences
• the desire to do what’s right.

This movie could also give you the opportunity to discuss with your children the following issues:

• natural disaster
• violence and the use of weapons
• self-centred or egotistical pursuits
• dominance and bullying behaviour.