Best for the kiddies

Rating: 5/10 (20 November 2001)

I have to admit, my main motivation for seeing this film was Billy Crystal. I'm a big fan of his, so when I saw the previews and saw that he was doing the voice of the main character (and I was able to spot Billy's voice in an instant), I said to myself "I have to see this film." Then I found out John Goodman and Steve Buscemi were also doing voices, and I said "Even better." That's how you can tell you're getting old: You're watching animated flicks for the voice-overs...LOL.
On the surface, the plot seems creative. A world populated by monsters, where the sight of a human being scares the heck of them? Sounds good so far. But the idea wasn't very well-executed. Each of the monsters would go through a door, leading to a kid's bedroom, and scare them. Supposedly, the energy in Monstropolis--where they live--is powered by human screams. That I just found silly. And I know they were trying to make the grown-ups laugh with such one-liners as "Kids just don't get scared the way they used to," but it just didn't work. The idea was too silly! Again, filmmakers undermining the intelligence of young boys and girls.

Throughout the film, I couldn't help but anticipate the next thing Billy Crystal's character would spurt out. Why? Because he's Billy! But he never does say anything terribly funny. Is it because it's a kid's film? Hell, that didn't stop Robin Williams from cracking us up as the genie in "Alladin." Instead, Crystal does a stupid gag where he was tries to cover up the fact that a kid has invaded Monstropolis by performing and song-and-dance number, "Put that thing back where you came from. So help me! So help me!" Now, if that were not in a kid's film and let's say that gag was in a live action film where Billy was doing the same song-and-dance number critics and audiences would look at him and say, "What kind of lame crap is he pulling?"
The animation is good, but I think if they're gonna spend a couple years arduously animating a film of this sort, you may as well make sure you have a good, solid idea! Like "Toy Story" and "Toy Story 2." I was trying to keep myself awake during part of the film. It just bored me. I'm only gonna give in a halfway decent review because of the animation.

My score: 5 (out of 10)