For most people, Pixar can do no wrong; even Cars has its fans.  For me, I can tell where Pixar slumped – it was the time period between the release of Monsters, Inc. and Ratatouille (with the exception of The Incredibles), when Disney and Pixar were having contract issues.  Disney’s original agreement with Pixar allowed for distribution of Pixar movies with limited sequels.  Disney wanted to make a new agreement that called for more sequels.  This resulted in John Lasseter and Pixar telling Michael Eisner and Disney to go find a new cash cow.  Disney’s Board of Directors saw the future without Pixar and immediately got rid of Eisner.  With Eisner out of the way, Disney was able to acquire Pixar and put John Lasseter in charge of all animation.

This was good for everyone that loves movies, animation, and the Disney animation heritage.

Up is the story of an elderly man simply wanting to fulfill the lifelong wish of his recently passed wife to adventure to South America.  What we get is perhaps the most complex, layered story found in animation.  This is not a movie aimed at kids with a few things thrown in for adults – this is a movie for everyone.

The animation is stunning and the acting is great.  The only thing I was surprised about was the fact that there were some dark moments early on – a warning to parents before taking the young kids.  The Pixar short at the beginning was again top notch and you could see how they thought about making it longer.

I did see the movie in 3-D first and again in 2-D.  The 3-D was stunning, but I am annoyed by the sudden rise in the ticket premium from $1 to $3, even thought AMC is using the same eq1uipment it had 3 years ago.

My advice:  See this on the big screen – you will kick yourself if you don’t….

Over the years, the only studio to legitimately threaten Disney’s stranglehold on animation has been Dreamworks animation; Pixar does not count since it had a distribution deal with Disney and is now owned by Disney.  Of course, Mike Myers almost killed that with Shrek The Third.

Monsters Vs. Aliens is another in a long line of computer-generated animation.  Dreamworks does an even better job of approaching Pixar’s level with the realism and artfulness. ; something that many other studios are quick to ignore.  The story is a simple one: girl has everything; girl gets hit by meteor; girl becomes a monster.  What I really liked is that the story was kept tight, but allowed enough exposition to provide reasonable justification for everything.  I do agree with Roger Moore of the Orlando Sentinel when he talks about this being a story of empowerment for girls.  I would take it a step further – all too often we rely on a magic fix to solve everything when we can do it ourselves.  This movie shows how right that is.

The voice casting is spot-on – Stephen Colbert evoked memories of Robin Williams’ Genie from Aladdin with the role of the President.  It was great to hear Hugh Laurie as the intelligent monster and Seth Rogen as B.O.B.  Overall, not a bad voice selection for any character.  There were also a number of sight gags and one not-so-subtle nod to Shrek.

My advice:  See it at full-price and in 3-D – you will have a blast with monsters that can be fun without being destructive to mankind…