If Jeffrey Katzenburg is still wondering why Pixar Animation consistently outperforms his DreamWorks Animation critically and at the box-office, “Monsters vs. Aliens,” should give him a clue. While expertly animated, and laced with positive themes of self-image and female empowerment, a lack of literary fortitude ultimately vitiates what might have marked a major evolutionary step in the increasingly sophisticated world of CGI storytelling.

Susan (Reese Witherspoon) is a giddy bride-to-be set to wed Derek (Paul Rudd), a self-absorbed, small-time weatherman. On her wedding day Susan is struck by a giant, green, glowing meteor that transforms her into “Ginormica”, a 50-foot tall woman with super strength. The military, lead by General W.R. Monger (Kiefer Sutherland), captures and imprisons her in a top secret facility full of 1950s movie monsters including B.O.B. the blob (Seth Rogen), lagoon creature The Missing Link (Will Arnett), the brilliant Dr. Cockroach (Hugh Laurie), and the colossal, Godzilla-worm Insectosaurus. This rag-tag team of mythical outcasts is then called upon by the very government that imprisoned them to save the world from a deadly force of alien clones helmed by “Mars Attacks!,” reject, Gallaxhar (Rainn Wilson).

Since finding a goldmine in slightly risque, low-brow, pop-culture reference riddled animated features like “Shrek,” DreamWorks has continued its boycott of progress with the pedestrian, recognition-driven humor of “Monster vs. Aliens.”  The film essentially consists of a series of loud crashes periodically broken up by references to old monster movies.  Some of the jokes work–mostly Seth Rogen’s–and the loud crashes are supported by some outstanding visuals–most notably the destruction of the Golden Gate Bridge.  But real substance is given only a casual nod.

A particularly dramatic instance of missed opportunity comes during a confrontation between Susan and Gallahxhar in which the villain reveals his nefarious motives.  In the process of relating his plan, as animated villains generally do, he says something very interesting about the destruction of innocent people on his home planet that, for a split second, lends dimension to an otherwise cardboard character.  What he says opens a window into a brilliant film in which Gallahxhar is a complex being, driven to the extreme to provide for his own race.  Unfortunately, that film wasn’t made, and we’re left with a visual feast that leaves our eyes titillated but our intellect starving.  It’s missed opportunities like these that prevent DreamWorks from reaching the heights of Pixar and beyond.

(3 out of 5)