A little too warm and fuzzy

Rating: Null/10 (14 January 2002)

Monsters Inc. creates a secret world where monsters really exist. They work for a company called Monsters Inc. and are busily scaring children all over the world to collect their screams, which are used to power the city of Monstropolis. However, the monsters live in fear of any contact with the children they scare, believing that they are highly contagious. So when a baby girl accidentally crosses over from the human world, it's the beginning of a chaotic adventure for the hero, James P 'Sully' Sullivan and his friend, Michael 'Mike' Wazowski.
The voices have been well cast with Billy Crystal and John Goodman working well together as the voices of the main characters. Goodman is Sully, a big, blue hairy monster and Crystal is Mike, basically a giant eye on legs. Steve Buscemi is the villain Randall Boggs, an evil chameleon lizard intent on taking the top scarer award away from Sully. Even the smaller roles have been filled by the voices of heavyweight Hollywood actors such as Oscar-winner Jennifer Tilley (Mike's girlfriend Celia) and James Coburn (grumpy factory manager, Henry J Waternoose).
Made by Pixar, the animation company behind the ground-breaking Toy Story (the first fully 3D animated feature film), Monsters Inc. shows just how far technology has developed since those early days. The characters' expressions and movements are fluid and completely convincing. However, the inventive storyline will ensure that audiences are only barely aware of the computer wizardry at work to bring Monsters Inc. to life.
Unfortunately it's not quite as witty or as much fun as similar animated releases like Toy Story 2, A Bug's Life or more recently, Shrek. Those movies worked well on two levels - providing enough cuteness and action to keep the kids happy as well as plenty of 'in' adult jokes to keep the grownups entertained. Monsters Inc. just doesn't have the big laughs and veers a little too often towards warm and fuzzy. The producers definitely had small children in mind when making this movie.
All in all, however, this clever behind-the-scenes spin on monsters in the closet is sure to keep kids captivated during the holidays. But make sure you're on time. There's a very funny animated short about birds shown before Monsters Inc.
Rated a monstrous 7/10.