Monsters, Inc. Review
by Rose 'Bams' Cooper (bams AT 3blackchicks DOT com)November 5th, 2001
'3BlackChicks Review...'
MONSTERS, INC. (2001)
Rated G; running time 105 minutes
Genre: Animated
Seen at: Celebration Cinema (Lansing, Michigan)
Official site: http:/www.disney.com/DisneyPictures/monstersinc/ IMDB site: http://us.imdb.com/Details?0198781
Written by: Dan Gerson, Andrew Stanton
Music by: Randy Newman
Directed by: Peter Docter, David Silverman, Lee Unkrich
Cast: John Goodman, Billy Crystal, Mary Gibbs, Steve Buscemi, James Coburn, Jennifer Tilly, Bob Peterson, John Ratzenberger, Frank Oz
Review Copyright Rose Cooper, 2001
Review URL: http://www.3blackchicks.com/bamsmonstersinc.html
It's a good time to be a Steve Jobs fancier; my PowerBook is running like a charm, Mac OS X is wowing CNET, and - if the multiple sold-out signs here in Podunkville are any indication - Pixar is Runnin' Thangs again.
The Story (WARNING: **spoilers contained below**)
Calvin may have once fretted about Scary Monsters being under his bed, but in the world of MONSTERS, INC., the real fear is when they come out of the closet.
The Fear Factor is actually a manufactured product at Monsters, Inc., the factory where James "Sully" Sullivan (John Goodman) and his Scare Assistant, Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) use special portals to produce the screams that produce the power that allows the monsters of Monstrobia to live comfortably. Sully, a good-natured monster [he's not mean: he's just drawn that way], is in fierce competition with Randall Boggs (Steve Buscemi) for most-screams-collected for the year, and Randall just Doesn't Play Well With Others.
So...just how do these Scary Monsters collect their screams? Why, from the shrieks of children, frightened by the monsters in their closets - those portals that various worker monsters, control on their side. Monsters go in - but the number one rule is, children must never, EVER, come out. Uh oh...how'd that little girl (Mary Gibbs) get attached to Sully?
The Upshot:
I went back to read my TOY STORY 2 review (written almost exactly two years ago...my, how time flies) to see if I noticed anything different between now and then. And of course, almost everything has changed. But the good news is, some things have stayed the same.
Pixar, creators of TS1 & 2, for instance; they put almost as much techie stuff, fun (that "coaster ride" - whee!), and feeling into MONSTERS, INC. as they did those earlier movies. "Almost", I say - because while MONSTERS, INC. does share much of the same beauty as its older siblings, there's something a little less warm (compared to TS1) and deep (compared to TS2) about it. Until John Goodman's ObBigLug kicks in, in a big, and delightful, way.
I've given Goodman somewhat of a hard time for that ObBigLug portrayal that seems to follow him across all of his movies; but here, even the curmudgeon in me couldn't resist his charms. Goodman and Mary Gibbs were so appealing together as "Kitty" and "Boo", that I found myself cheering for them at every turn, rooting for them during the Big Fight...and fighting back wispiness when Things Looked Bad for them.
The supporting voices were great across the board, too. No one was more surprised than I at Jennifer Tilly's drastically toned-down voice; her Celia didn't screech or whine at all - well, not much anyway - and I found myself rather enjoying her rather nuanced performance. I had a similar reaction to John Ratzenberger, a two-time TS vet, making a brief appearance as The Abominable Snowman ("Why can't I just be the Adorable Snowman?", ha!). And though I couldn't quite place James Coburn's voice as CEO Waternoose the way I did with Kevin Spacey's distinguishable voicings in A BUGS' LIFE, Steve Buschemi's voice sounded just as slithery as his exquisitely-drawn slimy chameleon Randall, looked.
Somewhat less pleasing, surprisingly enough, was Billy Crystal as Mike the smartass one-eyed helper bug monster (I guess that's what you'd call him). The longer the movie went on (and it did seem rather long, though still enjoyable), the more irritated I got at his constant mugging and wisecracks; so much so that when the inevitable Misunderstanding between Mike and Sully popped up, I kept hoping Sully would put the smackdown on that ol' one eye.
Along with the funny FOR THE BIRDS short, I did manage to catch some of the tie-ins to other movies as well as the Pixar canon (I won't spoil them here, but if some of the monsters in MONSTERS, INC. seem familiar to you, it's probably because you've seen them before in some form in A BUGS' LIFE or one of the TS movies), but the darned notepad I carry with me to take my notes, gets in the way of my enjoying a movie for what it is at times. Trust me: I'll fix this on the second viewing.
In The Movie House:
As a movie critic, I spend a lot of time in Celebration Cinema's lobby, waiting for my movies to start. As with any place of business, there's a lot of...well..."work junk" scattered around its lobby; mostly posters and other signage pertaining to the current releases and such. After awhile, you begin to tune this stuff out, because you get used to it being there. Much to my surprise, though, when my "Monsters" audience was let out of our theater, we all seemed to automagically drift towards this huge, life-like display of Sully and Mike (complete with "Please don't scare the monsters" police-type tape surrounding it). The kids, of course, did everything they could to surreptitiously stroke the two mannequins; and I can't lie: I stood there, mesmerized, watching them myself. Scary Monsters? Ha!
Bammer's Bottom Line:
I wonder how Joshua - my dancing buddy from TOY STORY 2 - is doing now. I'd like to think that he danced a jig to the Crystal/Goodman tune in the closing credits. Yeah, I think he did.
MONSTERS, INC. (rating: greenlight):
Can't wait to go back next week to catch all the inside stuff/easter eggs I missed - or better yet, I'll wait until they announce that the version with "outtakes" is available at a theater near you.
Rose "Bams" Cooper
Webchick and Editor,
3BlackChicks Review
Entertainment Reviews With Flava!
Copyright Rose Cooper, 2001
EMAIL: [email protected]
http://www.3blackchicks.com/
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