Brilliant and unexpected

Rating: 8/10 (9 August 2005)

Monsters Inc. is without a doubt a well conceived movie. The writing was very good and the storyline, contrary to what one professional reviewer from CNN.com said, does NOT drag in the middle. If anyone has seen the early trailer of this movie, it doesn't give justice at all to the movie. John Goodmans portrayal of the big blue monster Sully is warm, and touching. His interaction with the little girl he names Boo is absolutely delightful. There are actually several scenes where some really heartwarming and tear-jerking things happen. This is very surprising considering Disney hasn't really released a tear-jerker since the Lion King in 1994. Unfortunately Billy Crystals character named Mike while very much in character for him is not nearly as visible in the picture as many movie goers would like. Although he is a main character, his humor is very subdued and he is not as sarcastically funny as he is capable of. Even though John Ratzenbergers (Cliff Clavin from Cheers) role is a small one, his character Yeti is very comical and provides a few moments of comic relief during a particularly tense section of the movie.
The animation however is far more brilliant than Disney/Pixar's previous CGI releases Toy Story, A Bugs Life, and Toy Story II. The environments created for the characters is very cartoon-like in many respects, unlike the phenomenal realistic worlds created in this Summers hit Shrek. The animation is not as complex as Shrek was, but it is very obvious just looking at Sullys heavy fur coat to see the advances computer animation has taken since Jurassic Park rewrote the book on computer effects in 1993. All in all this movie is more geared to kids in the content of the dialog. Parents will find the movie enjoyable, but don't expect as much sarcastic wit and sexual innuendos as Shrek contained as this is a Disney movie after all. I recommend seeing this movie, you'll get a real kick out of the animated short film Pixar created for this release that precedes the movie called "For the Birds". It didn't hurt to have Lucasfilm release it's first trailer for Star Wars Episode II with this movie either.