I spent $16.00 to see the 9:20 p.m. showing of Monsters vs. Aliens at the AMC in Century City, which is the most money I have ever spent on a single movie ticket.

Yet, I am not disappointed, I am full of nostalgia. As I have only been to a 3D movie twice in my life, and both times I was under 10 years old. As an adult, I was filled with childish glee, an almost drug-induced happiness, watching this weirdly grown-up Dreamworks toon.

Now Monsters Vs. Aliens did not reinvent the wheel, however, it was well paced, wonderfully animated, and had a slew of jokes that crossed all age barriers.

Now, in order to see this movie in 3D, you have to purchase a pair of 3D glasses for $4 (real cost $0.04), which, oddly enough, are knock-off Ray-Ban Wayfarers, endearing to children and hipsters alike.

The previews were in 3D and what you forget as a grown up, is how giddy you get when technology starts fucking with dimensions. I imagine 2009 will go down as the year that 3D theatrical releases made their way into your local theater, because, at this point, you can download any media you desire on the internet, so studios will have to go out of their way to offer us a reason to pay the steep box office prices.

The movie opens with Susan Murphy (voiced by Reese Witherspoon) on her wedding day, already dealing with a major letdown—her groom has canceled their dream honeymoon to Paris in favor of Fresno. While she tries to stay upbeat, a massive meteorite crashes to Earth and hits her directly.

Shaken but not down, Susan rushes to the altar to marry Derek Dietl (Paul Rudd), a self-absorbed news anchor-in-training. But just before the vows, she begins to glow green and suddenly grows to an astonishing 49 feet, 11 inches.

The military, led by the hardcore General Monger (Kiefer Sutherland), swoop in and commandeer the Susan the Giant, bringing her to some sort of testing facility where she meets up with her future monster friends: Bicarbonate Ostylezene Benzoate or B.O.B. (Seth Rogen)  is basically a blob of goo that has one eye and no brain, yet better comedic timing than most of the humans in the movie. The Missing Link (Will Arnett) is a monster from 20,000 years ago who appears to be half ape and half fish, with a giant ego and a big heart. Dr. Cockroach (Hugh Laurie) is a brilliant scientist who happens to be a cockroach. The last of the monsters is the gigantic cuddly Insectosaurus, the non-verbal monster that you’ll care about the most.

Mr. President (Stephen Colbert) is the funniest human character, playing the commander-in-chief like the best of Clinton’s charm and the worst of Bush’s intellect; he also provides one of the biggest laughs in the movie. General Monger meets with the President, and they decide to send the monsters to fight a war against Galaxhar (Rainn Wilson), an evil alien who’s waging a war against Earth. The monsters fight the aliens, San Francisco is destroyed, and Susan has some big revelations.

The casting is amazing here, grouping together the best talents of our generation for an animated movie that’s a little gritty featuring some semi-coarse language (“boobies” and “pee”) and some sexual innuendos. But that’s how Dreamworks rolls, and I love it.

It’s all pretty predictable but it didn’t matter. I could count original storylines and plots from cartoon movies in the last 10 years on one hand. The way they used the 3D images is what I’ll remember the most about the movie, well, second to the top-notch casting.

Instead of using the technology for oohs and awws, they concentrated on using the 3D for perspective, bringing to life the amazing background imagery and subtle nuances in the animation. It was well thought out and perfectly executed. The use of this technique brought you fully into the movie because, less than halfway through, you forget it’s a 3D movie altogether, and you just let yourself go with it.

Simba’s dad doesn’t die, Bambi’s mom won’t be shot, and Dumbo will not be incarcerated in a cage, but like it or not Monsters Vs. Aliens will still find a way into your heart,