Its heart outshines its technical achievements... as it should

Rating: 6/10 (7 November 2001)

"Monsters, Inc" is essentially about embracing your fears, and
learning to laugh at them. A very timely message, don't you think?
It's true that the little girl is absolutely adorable (but not
saccharine), but the heart of the film is the growing relationship
between Sully (big furry blue monster, voice by John Goodman)
and this pre-verbal little girl he calls "Boo." At first, she's sort of a
pet that he's apprehensive about. Predictably, she becomes much,
much more to him. Sully learns to be a father.
This movie made me cry. And laugh. It does have some lagging
moments, and isn't quite on par with "A Bug's Life" or "Toy Story 2,"
but it's darned good. (I've never been a big fan of the original "Toy
Story," which seemed more concerned with "gee-whiz-look-what-we-can-do-with-computers," rather than story
and character, at which the subsequent Pixar films have excelled.)
Technically, it's years ahead of "Shrek," which, in my opinion,
offered nothing beyond lifelike-looking characters (who
nevertheless do not move in a lifelike fashion) and a dash of hip
cynicism. Watch this movie and notice that the characters move in
a completely convincing way, that fur and hair behave as they do in
life, but that the movie does not call attention to it. "Monsters, Inc."
is concerned with more important things.