Monsters vs. Aliens facts for kids

Monsters vs. Aliens is a fun computer-animated movie from 2009. It's a comedy and science fiction film made by DreamWorks Animation and Paramount Pictures. This movie was special because it was the first computer-animated film made directly in 3-D. This means it was designed for 3-D viewing from the very beginning, instead of being changed to 3-D later.

The movie was released on March 27, 2009. Later that year, on September 29, 2009, it came out on DVD and Blu-ray. Many famous actors lent their voices to the characters, including Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rogen, Hugh Laurie, and Will Arnett. There's also an animated television series called Monsters vs. Aliens that came out later.

Meet the Characters: Monsters and Aliens

The Monsters: Our Heroes

• Ginormica (voiced by Reese Witherspoon): Her real name is Susan Murphy. On her wedding day, a meteor hit her, making her grow to be almost 50 feet tall! She is shy at first and just wants to go back to her normal life. But she soon learns to accept her new monster self. Because of the meteor's energy, she is super strong and can handle energy attacks.

• B.O.B. (voiced by Seth Rogen): B.O.B. is a blob of goo that can't be destroyed! He was created when a special tomato was mixed with a dessert topping. His best power is that he can eat anything. He also can't be hurt. The only problem is that he doesn't have a brain, so he's not very smart. He sometimes gets confused about what the other monsters are trying to do. His main goal is usually to eat things.

• Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D. (voiced by Hugh Laurie): He is a very smart, but a bit crazy, scientist. He tried an experiment to make himself as tough as a cockroach. Instead, he ended up with a giant cockroach head and some cockroach-like habits! He is charming and has special powers.

• The Missing Link (voiced by Will Arnett): Link is a creature that is half fish and half ape. He is 20,000 years old! Scientists found him frozen and thawed him out. He then escaped and caused some trouble in his old home, a lagoon. Link acts like a jock, but he's not always in the best shape. Even so, he's great at martial arts. He often tries to lead the monster team in battles, even if his attitude doesn't always help.

• Insectosaurus (voiced by Conrad Vernon): This monster used to be a tiny grub, only about an inch long. But nuclear radiation made him grow into a huge 350-foot monster! He can shoot silk from his nose. Insectosaurus can't speak clearly, but he loves bright lights, which are often used to guide him. He and the Missing Link are very close friends, and Link can understand what Insectosaurus is saying. When he turns into a butterfly, he grows wings and can fly. He becomes the monsters' way to travel!

The Aliens: The Bad Guys

• Gallaxhar (voiced by Rainn Wilson): Gallaxhar is an evil alien leader who wants to take over Earth. He has huge robot probes and a big machine that can make copies of things. He says he had a tough childhood, which made him destroy his own planet. Now, he wants to make a new home on Earth. He wants to get quantonium, the special stuff that made Susan grow. He needs it to power his cloning machine and make an army of himself to conquer Earth. Gallaxhar is the main villain of the movie.

• Gallaxhar's Computer (voiced by Amy Poehler): This computer works smoothly and follows Gallaxhar's commands. It often has a funny, sarcastic way of speaking.

How the Movie Was Made

Making Monsters vs. Aliens was a huge job! Ed Leonard, who works at DreamWorks Animation, said it took about 45.6 million hours to create the movie. This is more than eight times the amount of time it took to make the first Shrek movie!

Hundreds of powerful computers were used. There was also a very large and strong "render farm" of servers. This farm had over 9,000 server cores to help process all the animation. The movie needed a massive 120 terabytes (that's 120,000 gigabytes) of data to be finished. Just one explosion scene in the movie needed 6 terabytes (6,000 gigabytes) of data by itself!

Since Monsters vs. Aliens, all big movies from DreamWorks Animation are now made in a 3-D format. They use special technology from Intel called InTru3D.

Images for kids

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  Reese Witherspoon at the British premiere of the film.

See also

In Spanish: Monsters vs Aliens para niños