Pretty entertaining

Rating: 9/10 (5 November 2001)

Well, this film is not quite Toy Story. I found it very entertaining, but it seems odd that Monsters, Inc. is based on how many screams can be extracted from kids owing to their fear but that they turn out to be harmless. Well, maybe this is not a problem. But something nagged at me. Anyone else? Well, apart from this I found it v. entertaining.

John Goodman voices Sully, the best scarer in town and Billy Crystal does his best friend and partner, Mike Mozkowski. They have been told that kids are dangerous, but when a kid escapes during a scare, Sulley learns they aren't. Of course he has to keep the kid under wraps in order to avoid panicking the city. This has some overtones that might disturb folks in the wake of Sept. 11. So Sulley learns of a plot by his rival, Randall Boggs (Steve Buscemi) to trap a kid and keep them in Monstropolis so that there will never be an energy crisis. Boo, the kids that Sulley ends up with is caught in the middle of this and Mike and Sulley want to save her from the nefarious Boggs and the CEO of Monsters Inc. Henry J. Waternoose (James Coburn), who is incahoots on this plan with Boggs. Sulley and Mike manage to get Boo home and avoid capture by Boggs.
I was sitting too near the front of the theater to be able to honestly appraise the look of the film. I still have a crick in my neck from looking up. But it looked fairly dynamic and alive. I thought John Goodman was terrific in endowing his character with a lot of kindness and gentleness. Billy Crystal's voice I hardly recognized, but he was great too. There was great variety in the nature of the monsters. Very cute. I didn't find the story quite as compelling, perhaps for the reason I mentioned at the beginning of this review. But nevertheless, this is still quite a lot of fun. The look, the sound, the attention to detail, the sound, it's all there. Another strong Pixar flic.