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Monsters, Inc. Customer Reviews (67 - 69 of 85 Reviews)

Monsters Inc,, Business is GOOD! (So is the movie)
The world needs a good laugh and Pixar delivers it to the screen, piping hot and fresh. The fine folks at Pixar who brought you Toy Story, Toy Story 2 and A Bug's Life now present their crowning animation achievement, Monsters Inc.. Take a story line of incredible irony where monsters are afraid of children and you've got a formula that works. Add in some great performances by John Goodman & Billy Crystal doing the main character voices and throw in the precocious yet all too cuddly voice of Mary Gibbs as Boo and you have some very real characters you can believe in. I was hesitant about going to this movie. Not that I didn't enjoy the previous Pixar offerings, I did, I just tend to shy away from movies with months of pre-release hype because they tend to disappoint and never live up to their advertising. Well, how wrong I was about this movie! The hype doesn't even do it justice! Kids will love it, adults will love it more. While the animation and action and characterizations will enthrall the kids, the jokes, the dialogue and all too familiar corporate workings inside the Monsters Inc. factory will have adults in tears of laughter. This movie moves at breakneck speed and nothing is wasted just for the sake of eye candy. It all works and works well. See it with your kids, see it with your 40 year old coworkers after work but just see it!

A lot of fun
"Monsters, Inc." is set in a world looking not unlike our own, only populated by monsters. Otherwise, and besides the technology that allows its denizens to travel into our world through our closets, "Monstropolis" looks pretty much like home. Its people have the same insecurities - fear of the unknown; also everybody is sensitive about an energy crisis, with the dwindling screams of children providing the sole power source for the city. To secure as much of the scarce energy for Monstropolis (today's children just don't provide screams as easily as in years gone by), Monsters, Inc sends its workers into the bedrooms of children throughout our world in the night's darkest hours collecting the screams needed to keep the city working. In an unexpected switch, the monsters prove terrified of children, incorrectly believing them to be the most toxic creatures in the universe. Among the monsters, Sully (voiced by John Goodman) is the champ. Backed-up by the otherwise hapless Mike Wyzofski (Billy Crystal), Sully barely manages to hold the lead against a slimy and ambitious chameleon named Randall Boggs and voiced by Steve Buscemi. Among the denizens of Monstropolis, the brave workers of "Monsters, Inc." are heroes, up there with the astronauts (their entrance on the factory floor sends up a similar scene from "The Right Stuff" in which the Mercury astronauts appear in their flightsuits for the press for the first time). Those monsters who can't make the cut are banished to our world, condemned to making brief cameos on episodes of "Unsolved Mysteries". Apparently trying to up his quota, Randall works off-hours. When one of his victims, an adorable 2 year old girl escapes into the monster world and is discovered by Sully, the company is thrown into a crisis. Learning that the child (whom they call "Boo"isn't as dangerous as they'd been led to believe, Sully and Mike protect her from Randall and try to find her door from among the thousands kept in Monsters, inc.'s warehouse, all the time dodging Randall, the insidious stormtroopers of the CDA and a shadowy conspiracy that has plans of its own for Boo.

This was a great film, though the characters are pretty one-note (they're all monsters, but their blue-collar sensitivities are very human; Sully is the hero with Mike as the comic relief; Billy Crystal doesn't get as much mileage from "Mike" as Tom Hanks or Tim Allen got from Woody and Buzz in the Toy Story movies), but the plot is an ingenious re-working of childhood neuroses (with cowardly monsters who live off our screams replacing toys who live for playing.) Like other Pixar flicks, even the tape comes with extras - two shorts, one of them being based on "Monsters, Inc." characters, plus "outtakes" and even shots from a musical version of "Monsters, Inc" acted and sung by the company's employees. A lot of fun, without ever being all that scary or sappy. There's even a high-speed sequence involving Mike, Sully and Boo searching for Boo's door while being chased by Randall, that's bound to show up in Disney as a theme ride.

It's a scream
The best films, regardless if they're for kids or adults, all have the same thing in common--great storytelling, characterizations and imaginative direction. Pixar's Monsters, Inc. has all three in spades. From the film's satirical opening m inutes (with its parody of commericals and corporate America)to its last suspense filled frames, Monsters, Inc. packs humor and heart into a fun filled movie. Director Pete Doctor has crafted a film that entertains whether watched for the first time for the tenth.

John Goodman's performance as Sully and Billy Crystal's performance as Mike demonstrate that not all the best acting is found in serious high minded films. Both give comedic performances that rival the best live action work each has done. What's particularly memorable about the film is the imaginative voice casting. Without the right performer, the best animation won't reach an audience. Monsters, Inc. manages to do both exceptionally well. The opening titles (with their witty reference to the old Gerald McBong McBong cartoons)can't even begin to prepare you for the fun that follows.

The extras on this 2 DVD set are particularly fun. The animated short about Mike's new car is a blast (it's only found on the video version) and the inside look at Pixar shows us not only who comes up with these nutty ideas but how they give birth to them as well. There's also a section that shows viewers where all the inside jokes are (although I have the sneaking suspicion that there are still a few gems hidden in there somewhere). The Boo game is fun for little ones and the DVD-Rom features are a nice addition as well.

The digital picture transfer is spectacular. The widescreen and standard screen formats are both available on the same disc (like with Toy Story 2). It's amazing how detailed the sound effects are on films like this. Viewers could listen to this film and still chuckle.

I'd also like to comment on Randy Newman's score. Newman is probably one of the most under rated songwriters/film scorers around. His work on this film (like his best work including his great score for Ragtime) helps accent the action and humor. Newman's sardonic wit is the perfect compliment to Pixar's films.

Monsters, Inc. (like Toy Story before it) has set a new benchmark for animated family films; it's sleek, intelligent and funny managing to reach kids and adults equally well.

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