Monster Zinc

Rating: Null/10 (11 February 2002)

Perhaps I've seen too many 'twist' movies lately, but I really was expecting to see a monster called 'Zinc' as a sort of play on words. I couldn't really understand why else would they have chosen such a rubbish title! I mean, how many kids are going to understand it? How about: 'Mum, there's a monster in my closet' ? OK, not too great, but Monsters Inc? There wasn't even a scary squid to squirt a bit of this famous 'inc'. Overall, I think the film is good, but, save for a few bits of genius, it's not in the same league as the 2 Toy Story movies, and is definitely not as good as 'Shrek' which was the best animation movie since Buzz Lightyear and Co. (Now, I've started doing it. It could have been 'Monsters.Com'. Anything's better than inkless 'inc'). The great bits are Billy Crystal's 'eye', which confirms that he is best suited to hiding his body from us; the very original concept of the 'monsters-eye view'; and the chase on the doors, which I think is probably the best bit of any animated movie I've ever seen. It's the meat and veg of the film which I found a bit wanting. A sub-plot was craved to take the heat out of the little girl's interference with the monster world. There seemed to be a lot more mileage to be had from the doorways to different worlds, but I expect we'll get that in 'MI 2' Oh no, they can't use that title. 7 out of 10, but overrated, I'm afraid.