First there was regular 2-D, hand-drawn animation. Then, with Pixar's popularity and success, filmmakers moved into computer-animated movies. Now, the industry has evolved further bringing us 3-D computer-animated films with the release of DreamWorks' "Monsters vs. Aliens."

This is the first computer-animated movie to be made in 3-D, as opposed to be created in regular computer-animation and then converted later. And the work pays off as it brings another level of entertainment to the movie.

The story follows Susan Murphy (Reese Witherspoon) after she is hit with a radioactive meteor on her wedding day and turns her into a giant with super strength. The military captures her, renames her "Ginormica" and keeps her contained with other top-secret monsters that have been captured by the military. However, the monsters are offered freedom if they help the government save the world from an alien attack.

The cast list boasts a lot of well-known actors including Paul Rudd, who plays Witherspoon's fiancé, Hugh Laurie, Seth Rogen, Will Arnett, Rainn Wilson, Stephen Colbert and Kiefer Sutherland. However, all of these funnymen do not do much to help out the plot, which really seems to drag during parts of the movie. It seems as if a lot of the characters, including the unnamed President of the United States (Colbert) and the attacking alien Gallaxhar (Wilson) just seem to be trying too hard.

Even though every animated "kids" movie seems to have specific jokes and comments that are like little nudges and winks to the adults in the audience, "Monsters" seemed to be chock full of them. At one point, the president goes to welcome the aliens. He walks up to a podium, looking like he is about to give a memorable speech, but then whips out a keyboard and starts playing the theme to "Beverly Hills Cop." With callbacks to a variety of films that came out before a lot of the kids in the audience were born, it seems as if you need to be a certain age just to enjoy the movie.

However, the character that continually brings the laughs is B.O.B., (Rogen). The fact that he does not have a brain leads to what may be relatively obvious, but hilarious jokes, including a running theme where he cannot differentiate between what has happened to him and what has happened to his friends.

The only other redeeming quality is the 3-D aspect of the film. Seeing it in 2-D will not give viewers the full effect that the creators were going for. Anyone who has not seen a 3-D film will get a kick out of the variety of objects that look like they are flying off the screen.

One of the most memorable scenes is where there appears to be a spoon floating in space and it takes some self-control not to reach out and grab for it.

In the end, the movie's 3-D aspect brings something that makes "Monsters vs. Aliens" worth watching. But with a variety of 3-D computer-animated movies coming out within the next few years, it may be better to save your $10 until a film brings a great plot and just uses 3-D to enhance it.