Pixar Have Done It Again

Rating: 10/10 (26 September 2002)

*A FEW POSSIBLE SPOILERS*
I had heard very, very good things about Monsters, Inc. (2001). All of the people that had seen in theatrically had told me it was fantastic, and it was sitting nicely at #119 in the IMDB Top 250 at the time that I wrote this review. Being that it had come from animated geniuses Pixar, I can't say that I expected something as bad as Kazaam (1996). I expected something terrific, but not as terrific as I got.
The story revolves around James P. Sullivan (John Goodman) and Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal). They both live in a city called Monstropolis, and work at a factory named Monsters, Inc., where monsters are given a designated child of which they go into the bedroom of and scare every morning at work, as that is apparently bedtime for children in the human world, and the screams of the child fill yellow tanks that look like the oxygen tanks scuba divers use. The screams are then processed into electricity, which is used to power the whole of Monstropolis, but they cannot make contact with a child or any object from the child's room, as they believe that nothing is as dangerous or deadly as a human child. Sully is the top scarer currently working in the factory, and is at the top of the ladder on scares, and trailing just behind him is a sleazy monster named Randall Boggs (portrayed very well by Steve Buscemi). Randall is determined to get to the top of the ladder ahead of Sully, so one evening after work, when the scarefloor (where the business is conducted) is empty, Randall sneaks his door down to cheat Sully off the top of the ladder, and goes to fetch a trolley of tanks to get the screams. Roz, the dispatch manager (Bob Petersen (III)) is always up Wazowski about his paperwork not being in on time, on the scares he works with Sully, so Sully covers for him so Mike can go out for dinner to a sushi restaurant with his girlfriend Celia (Jennifer Tilly), the receptionist at the factory. Sully goes up to the scarefloor to collect the paperwork, and discovers the door sitting there while the rest have been put away. He goes in and investigates, and accidentally lets the child, which he later names Boo, out of her room. He panics, and throws her back in, or so he thinks. Accidentally collecting some toys, he runs and stuffs them in a locker. He then discovers that Boo is holding onto his back, so he stuffs her into a sports bag. He gets back just as Randall, noticing his child is not in bed, walks puzzled out of her room, and puts back the tanks and the door. Sully rushes to the sushi restaurant to tell Mike, interrupting their dinner, and making Celia, who has rattlesnakes for hair, very unhappy, and so begins a wild adventure to get Boo back to the her room, but run into many obstacles in the way, such as hiding Boo from Randall, who wants to kidnap her and extract her screams, using a scream extractor (go figure), hide her from the boss, keep her at bay thinking she is deadly, and save their jobs, but get attached to her along the way. There are many other little surprises, such as subtle references to the Toy Story films, those of which I will not give away here, as you should see the film for yourself.
The film is not, and I cannot stress this enough, just a kid's movie. Most, if not all, adults that view it will also like and accept it's morals, and appreciate it's sense or humour. It is a great movie for the entire family, as Pixar are renowned for.
Beau's Rating: *** 1/2 out of ****