By Sarah Sluis
Via NYMag's Vulture blog, here's the trailer for DreamWorks' Monsters vs. Aliens. The kitschy title, which brings to mind 1950s and 1980s action/creature films, is just one of the movie's many borrowings from popular films and culture. Like DreamWorks' fractured fairy tale Shrek, a lot of the pleasure should come from identifying the cultural references and enjoying the new spin given to them.
Just a few film/cultural references I noted from the trailer:
-A war room, clearly inspired by Dr. Strangelove
-A bipartisan alien that (my opinion) looks like a cross between President Bush and Senator Obama
-Missile inscribed with an E.T. tagline (Dr. Strangelove AND E.T. reference)
-Blob (1958's The Blob)
-Fighter jets attacking a mysteriously shielded mothership (Independence Day)
-Legs of moving warship look like the vehicle from Empire Strikes Back
-The other four monsters are a mad scientist cockroach, an ancient fish, an insectosaurus, and a fifty-foot woman: all clever spins on monsters we have seen before. I especially like the insectosaurus, a combination that actually seems to cancel out the "threat level" instead of making the creature more intimidating.
The film will release in InTru3D, as well as RealD and IMAX, which will add to the box-office gross and make the movie an "event" film not to be saved for its DVD release.
Readers - any references you'd like to add?
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