The advantage of living in a big city is that big cities have big things. Case in point: IMAX. Seeing how I’m a small town guy, I’d never ever visited an IMAX cinema before. So now that something mildly interesting was actually playing there, I figured I’d check things out. So I got treated by Monsters vs Aliens, Dreamworks’s new animation. In glorious 3D!

Let me confess to you: I’m actually not a big fan of Dreamworks animation. Sure, the technology is there, but their movies always feel soulless. This movie was not an exception to the rule: the hair looked realistic, and so did the skin… but then they put those realistic technologies into the most creepy animated human ever. Ew.

On the other hand, though, the story told in this movie is a lot better than the past few that had the Dreamworks name on them. No more endless sequels (seriously guys, the first Shrek wasn’t exactly the greatest movie of all times, so what’s with all the sequels?) or crazy movies moving at lightning speed (squirrel from Over the Hedge, my eyes are on you). I’d like an unpretentious movie, a bit of entertainment and a laugh here and there. And that’s exactly what I’ve got.

This movie is not great. It is never great. Nor – in my opinion – does it try to be. The main character has the staleness of a Dreamworks main character, there is another character for comic relief, and all of the characters – all of them – wander through the plot being underused. Except for the main character. You know, the boring one.

But hey, you’re watching Dreamworks. You don’t get to be picky. You opted for a good, two-hour laugh. And that’s what you get. Loads of movie references (Men in Black, Indepedence Day, Godzilla…), some awesome-looking characters (the cockroach-o-saurus and the egg-robot-thing, for example – just never the humans, never the humans)…

I just can’t write anything else about this movie. It’s not bad and it’s not good either. The 3D was cool. But without 3D? Not worth paying a cinema ticket for. Wait for the DVD. And then rent it. It’s like fast food: you gulp it down and forget you ever had it.