Laughs + Heart = Fun

Rating: 8/10 (6 March 2017)

Disney/Pixar movies always work best on the "funny + heart" formula. "Monsters, Inc.", while not absolutely perfecting that formula, works well enough to produce another solid animation effort.
For a basic plot summary, this movie poses that the "monster in the closet" you were scared of as a kid was indeed real and just trying to scare you to collect your screams, which powers their entire industry. One "routine day at the Monster scare factory", however, top scare-er Sulley (John Goodman) and pal Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) bring a small girl back into their own world, wreaking havoc along the way and learning a pretty valuable lesson in the process.
To be sure, "Monsters, Inc." is a great animation effort. It is witty (for both adults and children), full of action/adventure, and has a lot of heart/emotions weaved into the proceedings. Especially standing out here is the voice acting from Crystal and Goodman, whose characters have such a great report with each other.
The only reason I give the movie four stars instead of five is because, unlike the top tier of Disney/Pixar efforts like Toy Story, Wall-E, Finding Nemo, and Up, this one shies away from the take-home message when it could have embraced it. For example, and I'll try to be as spoiler- free as possible here, towards the end of the movie the two leads make a discovery (which is hinted at throughout the film) that will change the "Monster world" forever. Instead of really delving into the consequences of that revelation, however, the producers choose to "keep things simple" and not get too deep. I think they could have gone a little deeper and doing so would have vaulted this one into the upper echelon.
Overall, though, "Monsters, Inc." is a fun film that the entire family can enjoy. While it may not be the absolute best of its kind, it is still easily better than most.