A Pixar masterclass, one of their best - 90%

Rating: 9/10 (30 March 2005)

Many, including myself, will be lamenting the fact that Disney and Pixar are no more - or at least, no longer working together. In the last ten years since "Toy Story", they have consistently produced high quality animation that pulls off the one trick Disney rarely could. Pixar films entertain parents and kids alike and it doesn't matter which film you take them to see because all of them stick to the magic formula of being as much fun to everyone as they can. Having re-watched "The Incredibles" last night, I still say that film is one of my new favourites and it was with eager anticipation that I watched "Monsters, Inc." today. I wasn't disappointed but then again, I wasn't expecting to be.
"Monsters, Inc." takes a premise that should be as child-unfriendly as you can imagine and reworks it. Monsters, you see, emerge into our world through the door to your closet (or whatever, seeing as we don't have closets in the UK) in order to provoke screams. They need screams because they use them as energy, powering their homes and businesses in Monstropolis. However, monsters are generally afraid of children as well, believing them to be toxic and deadly to the touch. So when a cute little girl called Boo (Mary Gibbs) makes her way through into Monstropolis, all sorts of panic and chaos arises. It soon becomes apparent that Boo is being looked after by top-scarer Sully (John Goodman) and his one-eyed companion Mike (Billy Crystal), who must return Boo to her bedroom before evil monster Randall (Steve Buscemi) finds her.
Words generally fail to do justice to how well "Monsters, Inc." looks. If you thought "The Incredibles" was as good as it got, think again. Sully is a joy to behold, a large blue yeti-type creature with each of his 2.32 million hairs all flowing and looking unbelievably real. Boo too is brilliant, capturing the movement and garbled speech of a child to perfection. If you don't fall in love with her and her innate ability to wander off and cause trouble then I'd go to the doctor because something is clearly wrong. Goodman and Crystal are probably one of the funniest and unlikeliest double acts to emerge in recent years, squabbling with each other and bursting through their monstrous visages (no offence, guys!) with enthusiastic relish. The ideas that run throughout this film are just glorious, from the frankly genius explanation of Monstropolis to the little bits and pieces that litter the cinematic landscape. A restaurant called Harry Hausen's - fantastic! Though it isn't as much fun as Pixar's latest, you'd have to a heart of stone not to enjoy "Monsters, Inc."
For whatever reason, this film doesn't seem to get as much praise as it should because this really is a fine piece of work, one of Pixar's very best and the best thing Disney have released since "Aladdin" (excluding "The Incredibles"). There are moments when the humour falls a little flat, such as the incompetent co-workers who sound denser than a bag of bricks. But the humour is fresh, the ideas are astonishingly original and the vocal talents of all involved (can some mad scientist keep little Ms Gibbs at the age of six forever and give her a microphone?) are perfectly suited to their roles, as if anything less than perfect would do for Pixar. To miss out on this film would be nothing short of disastrous. Get a copy and play to your kids, because you'll all love it. And if you don't have kids (like me) then watch it by yourself and still enjoy. It will be out little secret...