DreamWorks' B.O.B.'s Big Break DVD Review
Seth Rogen, Kiefer Sutherland Star in Monsters vs. Aliens Short Film
Sep 24, 2009
Bundled with DreamWorks Animation's Monsters vs. Aliens DVD is the 3-D release B.O.B.'s Big Break, a CGI animated short featuring 4 characters from the hit film.
It's a worrying taste of what's to come if, and when, DWA releases the upcoming Monsters vs. Aliens television show and Halloween special on NBC this fall. B.O.B.'s Big Break lacks inspiration. It has its funny moments, but there aren't enough to put it over the top.
Kiefer Sutherland, Hugh Laurie, Seth Rogen and Will Arnett Star in DreamWorks Animation's B.O.B.'s Big Break
The year is 1968. Dr. Cockroach PhD (Hugh Laurie) and the Missing Link (Will Arnett) are once again trying to outwit Captain W.R. Monger (Kiefer Sutherland) and break out of the secured location 3 miles beneath the Nevada desert.
This time Cockroach turns B.O.B. (Seth Rogen) into a bomb figuring that the resulting explosion should bust them out. Besides, B.O.B.'s indestructible anyway. The boom's a bust, but now the brainless blob can read minds. Will Cockroach and friends use this new-found power on Captain Monger to break themselves out? And will the attempt succeed?
One again, DWA's made a good-looking film – and kudos for bringing back the original cast to voice their roles again – but it somehow isn't enough. DWA's Gatling Gun approach to humour doesn't seem as much in evidence here, and not as many of the jokes work. B.O.B.'s Big Break seems like a case of going through the motions, with no real excitement or joy from both the cast, the scripters and the animation team. There are a bunch of deus ex machina moments – B.O.B.'s power switches off at a crucial moment – and characters say or do stupid things to advance the plot (take a bow, Link).
It's not the fact that we already know the ending (Link, Cockroach and B.O.B. will be in their cells when Ginormica arrives in 2009) which robs this flick of its power. Heck, you can predict the endings for the vast majority of Hollywood movies: guy gets girl, good guys win, bad guys get pasted, yadda-yadda-yadda.
It's the journey that's important, the way the filmmakers negotiate the required elements in new and inspired ways that takes any movie above the mediocre. And that's what B.O.B.'s Big Break is missing.
DVD Extras
There are 2-D and 3-D versions of the short. DWA thoughtfully provided 4 sets of 3-D glasses so your typical American nuclear family can watch the film together (the .5 kid is SOL).
The 3-D section of the DVD features a "Monster Paddle Game" which has the viewer use his "paddle" (actually your remote control) to intercept messages from outer space.
The 2-D section the "Karaoke Music Party": it features Ginormica (Reese Witherspoon) singing Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive," B.O.B. crooning the Bee Gees' "More Than a Woman" to his favourite jello dessert, plus Cockroach and Link's duet on Steppenwolf's "Born to be Wild."
The other major extras – the DVD-ROM games "Creature Fun Factory" and "Monsters vs. Aliens Activision Game Demo and Cheat Code" – only work with PC's, so any Mac users (guilty!) are out of luck.
The Final Analysis
While it's great to see DreamWorks Animation jumping on the "over-delivering" concept that John Lasseter brought to Disney's animation DVD's, one wishes that the makers of B.O.B.'s Big Break had eaten their Wheaties, or whatever they needed to kick their creative juices into gear. Or maybe the executives needed to get the hell out of the way and let the creators create.
Whatever went wrong here, B.O.B.'s Big Break gets a 4/10.
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