Monsters, Inc. (2001)

Peter Docter

USA

92 min, color, English, animated

Do you remember your room as a kid? Do you remember how it looked at night, with the lights out and parents in the room next to yours? Has the shadow of the fluttering curtain ever looked like a monster creeping on the floor? Or the creaking closet door conjure up some untold and indescribable creature coming to eat you while you sleep? If you do, then this film will explain to you, in detail, that you were right and that monsters really do exist!

James P. "Sulley" Sullivan (John Goodman) and Michael "Mike" Wazowski (Billy Crystal) are team buddies who work at Monsters, Inc., the utility company that generates energy from the screams of scared kids. Sulley is the No. 1 scarer and Mike is his able assistant. The fantasy runs wild and you won't believe your green eye when you see the ingenious setup with the individual doors to kid bedrooms and the scientific management of the company.

The problem, however, is that kids these day are not that easily scared anymore and so monster world is facing an increasing energy problem. On top of that, the scarers have perilous jobs because a single touch of a child can, reportedly, kill them, and contact with anything from their world, especially if brought over, can cause serious contamination. (That part is always hilarious, particularly when the decontamination squads shaved a less fortunate scarer.) Amidst the energy crisis, there is also a bitter personal competition for the coveted place of top scarer, currently held by Sulley, between him and Randall Boggs (Steve Buscemi). Everything goes well until Randall's subterfuge designed to get him the top place backfires and a little girl, Boo (Mary Gibbs), walks through the door into the monster's world, setting off a chain of events that will pit friend against friend, ruin the company, and teach scarers that laughter is 10 times more powerful than fear.

Despite the somewhat wishful and clearly simplistic message (after all, this is a kid flick), Monsters, Inc. is funny, entertaining, and never boring even for adults, at least this one. The adventures and the unexpected turns of events are enough to keep everyone interested, but the humor and the genuinely attractive characters make it a worthwhile watch even sans the action.

The animation is pretty good, although there's clearly still work to be done in some areas. The hair on Sulley was excellent (the hardest part to do), especially when he dropped in the snow following his mad dash down the slope. Mike could have been a little more expressive and seemed to lack personality but I guess one cannot expect much from a ball with an eye. Boo was also done extremely well and as a whole the magic worked just fine.

November 25, 2001