an entertaining film for children of all ages

Rating: 8/10 (21 September 2002)

Monsters, Inc. is the type of film Disney used to make. Sure the computer animation is new, but the old Disney formula is the same here. Great animation, lovable characters, a simple plot, and slapstick humor are what made Disney films like 101 Dalmations, Dumbo, Pinnochio, etc. all great childrens films. Monsters, Inc, however has done what these films could not do by extending its audience beyond your standard 3-11 year old.

The creators of Monsters, Inc. have paid enormous attention to detail in their work such that jokes like an ooze-generating monster mopping a floor, or an abominable snowman serving yellow snow cones (No, its lemon!) will entertain adults who normally don't find animation very interesting.
It is fortunate that Disney (Pixar in this case) has chosen to veer away from the formula that made its animated cartoons go "over the top" in the past. Yes, I mean the singing! The music chosen for this film goes over well and does not steal the show from the principal actors (Billy Crystal and John Goodman) and features a duet from the two at the closing credits (Oscar nominated song "If I didn't have you".
Crystal works well as the scare "coach" Mike Grebalski (spelling?). Disney could have chosen "over the top comedian Robin Williams for this part but wisely chose Billy Crystal whose comedy was light hearted and fun. Goodman gave a stellar performance as scare legend "Sully", the scarer who falls in love with a little child.
While there were some plot holes (how did Mike get back from the snow world?), I thoroughly enjoyed this film and recommend it to anyone, especially to those with children.
Buy Rating (0 = burn all copies of this 1 = good for USA network on Saturday night 2 = wait to come out on cable, network TV 3 = worth a rent 4 = buy it cheap on VHS 5 = buy it on DVD
5 of 5 stars