Monsters vs Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space (2009 TV Movie) User Reviews

fun short and sweet

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 20 November 2013]

The gang goes to Susan's hometown of Modesto, California after an alien presence is detected right before Halloween. An alien ship had flushed onto a patch of pumpkins mutating them into monsters. The group must battle the candy eating pumpkins on Halloween night.

This is a 30 minute Halloween special. The gang has great chemistry together. It's a smaller simplified version of the movie. It's a fun group especially BOB. The fact that it is smaller and simplified may actually help it. It doesn't feel overstretched. The setup was easy. The characters do some jokes. There's a bit of action, and they win in the end. It's a fun watch for 30 minutes.

Short and good

[kosmasp · 7/10 · 29 November 2010]

When I watched this I wasn't sure if I had been to harsh with the feature length movie (only gave it 5, which means, I though it had more potential than it explored ... but still not a bad movie). But another reviewer/user here stated that he thought the short movie is better than the original movie too ...

Hopefully they will continue from this short, when (and if) they make another feature length movie. The jokes are good, it is a very well rounded story. Of course it only really works if you have seen the characters grow (quite literally in on case) in the movie. Watch if you can, during Halloween season!

Very nice, but far more predictable than the movie

[kill-the-boxtrolls · 6/10 · 5 November 2009]

Unlike me, I really liked the movie far more better than this, although this and the movie did a well good job, but unlike me, I think the movie is far better. between this and the film, the film is a very unpredictable script to it, but this is far more interesting, Mutant pumpkins from outer space! Is about three monsters who team up to try and fight off the pumpkin to eject out it's evil plans and even propositions, concepts, and intentions. I think this is a really interesting short even though it's too short, sadly, my mom is not alike to me, she said she didn;t really like it as much as the movie but I thought this was very nice, very fun to invite your family to watch like i watched it with my little cousin and we both really liked it. It was very fun, animation is very good and imaginable, the script was interesting, and the short plot was very nicely written and pretty good too. 7.4/10 Great!

A new Halloween classic is born!

[oaklandlubber · 1 November 2009]

This Halloween special is even better than the movie from which the characters come from! Part homage to the movie Gremlins, this half hour special has lots of quirky humor and thrills as well as references to adult classics (think theme from Halloween and Psycho) that keeps the pace zipping along. Well plotted and funny enough to prevent it from being scary to the little ones make this a must-see! In short, a UFO dumps its sewage onto a farmer's pumpkin patch and the resultant pumpkins come to life, inflicting "terror", mischief and mayhem on a town. it's up the monsters from MvA to come to the rescue. Good show! My kids wanted to see it again immediately.

The kids will like it a lot more than the adults--just like the original film.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 12 November 2011]

I was not a huge fan of the original "Monsters Versus Aliens", so my expectations for this short film were relatively low.

The show begins with a spaceship dumping its toilet waste on a pumpkin patch. Then, abruptly, the scene switches to the headquarters where the monsters live--with the usual banter between the characters from the original film. It's all interrupted when the General announces SOMETHING weird is happening in Modesto and the team needs to see what's they can do. Apparently, the pumpkins from the infected patch are BAD--and planning on doing...well, tune in for yourself to find out what happens next.

Overall, the CGI is pretty good and the characters rather enjoyable. I particularly liked seeing Bob trick-or-treating. Unfortunately, the plot wasn't particularly good. In other words, when the film resorted to a plot, it was a lot less fun. All in all, the kids will probably love it and the adults will find it a bit too much.

Entertaining and well worth watching

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 11 April 2012]

I did enjoy the movie Monsters vs. Aliens, so naturally I did want to see Monsters vs. Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space. I found this very entertaining and perfect to go with the movie. Generally it is well-plotted and engaging, even if there is the odd spot where it does feel predictable or thin. It looks beautiful especially in the colours which are bright and colourful, and the music is jaunty and rousing. The characters are still as likable as they were in the movie, and the writing is witty and funny, right from the dialogue, the physical jokes to the references to adult movies, making it accessible to adults as well as children.

All in all, well worth watching and very entertaining. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Monsters vs Aliens vs Pumpkins

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 9 July 2015]

And Reese Witherspoon right in the middle of it as voice actress of the main female character. She gets help from a whole bunch of familiar male actors too, basically everybody who appeared in the full feature film from which these 20 minutes are a spin-off. Fairly spectacular cast for a short film. But that is also all there is to it pretty much. Monsters and aliens unite to fight evil pumpkins in this Halloween special. The writer is not too known and for director Peter Ramsey it was also the first work behind the camera. He went on to direct "Rise of the Guardians" a couple years later. I did like the looks of the evil gigantic pumpkin monster, but the jokes pretty much fell flat in here almost from start to finish. Definitely not on par with other monster movie releases, such as "Monsters University" or "Hotel Transsylvania". However, I am only talking about this short film here. Maybe the full feature is more interesting. I have not seen this one, but the monsters in these 20 minutes here are not that interesting to me unfortunately. That's why I cannot recommend it. However, if you liked the feature really a lot, you can give this one a try here. Or check out the television series. No idea if they will ever make a second movie. If they do, I just hope, it will be better than this short one here. Not recommended.

I love this!

[ashera-571-730536 · 8/10 · 24 October 2021]

I loved the one I saw on TV years ago. I just watched a version on youtube and none of the mutant pumpkins say La Loo Lem Boo Lay! What is up with that? Those are the best parts!!!!

Fun and festive

[Gordon-11 · 2 November 2009]

This film is about monsters saving the world by fighting mutant pumpkins that came from a UFO.

"Monsters vs Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space" is a fun short animation. The plot is very simple, as not much can be packed into 20 minutes anyway. It tells how people prepare for Halloween, and the plentiful Halloween themes and decorations make the short animation appear very festive. I have a feeling that it is geared towards very young children, judged by the abundance of candies and sweets. Which young child does not dream of being forcibly fed non stop by a candy cannon?

Enjoyable and a lot worth watching!

[gavin-thelordofthefu-48-460297 · 8/10 · 3 October 2012]

I was a fan of the Monsters VS Aliens movie. Despite it's predictable storyline and it's lack of character development, it was an entertaining flick with great animation, likable characters with enthusiastic voice work, nice references to other sci-fi movies, and nice humor along with some heart-pounding sci-fi action. So, when I heard that Dreamworks Animation made a Halloween special to this film, I became so excited and went to see it online and to my surprise, I was impressed by it.

The storyline and concept, although thin and predictable, was at least engaging and well-plotted, the characters are as likable as they were in the first movie along with some great voice work and the music is rousing. The jokes from the writing are witty and funny. Not to mention it's nice references to adult horror movies which would make this more appealing to adults as much as it is to kids and the dialog is efficient.

Overall, not excellent, but a great Halloween special to an underrated movie from Dreamworks Animation. Thumbs up!

This is Halloween. We don't want to scare anyone.

[nogodnomasters · 10/10 · 22 March 2018]

This is a delightful short feature (27 minutes) of mutant pumpkins vs. monsters. This would make a great seasonal family film for the kids as it lacks the traditional frightening features of traditional movies at this time. The movie starts out with aliens accidentally mutating pumpkins in Modesto, by disposing of their waste. The monsters are called on to save the world. The mutant pumpkins eat candy.

Most of the humor is geared toward the younger crowd, with only a few jokes that only mom and dad might get. "If they give you candy, they are human. If they want to probe you, they are probably an alien."

Quite amusing but far too much "seasonal" legwork is put in when jokes should have been the focus

[bob the moo · 11 October 2010]

I quite enjoyed the film Monsters V Aliens, even if Pixar's continual "making it look easy" performance means that Dreamworks generally look like they are falling short of the mark even when they make enjoyable films. This Halloween special came on that is connected to the film and I figured I'd give it a go because normally the Pixar shorts that use characters from the movie are very funny as they are shorter and able just to play on the humour of the characters.

Mutant Pumpkins etc does this to a point and, when it does it is really quite funny. BOB frozen in a doorway unsure of what to say was very funny indeed as one example. The action itself is all big and silly and will be enjoyed by children (who may or may not get the "don't eat too much candy" message that is sort of in there) but the problem with this is that there is too much scene setting. Not so much in terms of the narrative but just in terms of having "seasonal" stuff in there. Where I wanted quick-fire jokes I instead got Halloween themed stuff that seemed in there because it was a Halloween special, as opposed to being in there because it was funny.

It is funny enough to bother with though – particularly if you enjoyed the characters from the film. Wisely BOB and Dr Cockroach get a good bit of material each since they are the funniest characters, but others also are given time that they don't really justify by being funny. Glad I saw it without adverts padding it out to a longer run time though as it is best enjoyed as short as possible so that it doesn't have to do too much carrying. Amusing fare but nothing particularly great about it despite a handful of good laughs.

Fun Short for Halloween

[Michael_Elliott · 29 July 2012]

Monsters vs Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space (2009)

*** (out of 4)

Fun short picks up after the events in MONSTERS VS. ALIENS as it's Halloween time and a spacecraft lands on Earth and dumps some waste on a patch of pumpkins. That night these pumpkins turn into the title creatures so it's up to Susan (voice of Reese Witherspoon) and her friends to try and defeat them and return the holiday to the children. As of watching this I hadn't gotten around to watching the film that all of these characters came from but after viewing this short I'm certainly going to move it up on my list. I thought for the most part this was a pretty entertaining film and especially if you don't take it overly serious. I think the film certainly captures the mood and spirit of Halloween and I really liked the title creatures. The entire sequence of the spaceship landing was very well done and I thought the animation on the pumpkins was extremely good. The vocal performances were all good as well so there's certainly no problem here. The entire look of the film was another major plus and especially Susan's parents house and the various decorations they have up.