Monsters, Inc. Review
by Karina Montgomery (cinerina AT flash DOT net)November 12th, 2001
Monsters, Inc.
Full Price Feature
Is it even possible for Pixar to make a film that is less than fantastic? I mean, seriously. From the deliciously retro Pink Panther-esque opening credits to the jaw-dropping door storage facility, what's not to love? That crew is so freakin' creative I don't know how they sleep at night without their heads exploding. Maybe they are issued special helmets. It's a terrific idea - monsters, in their world, are employed to jump out of kids' closets and scare the beans out of them, which powers the monsters' energy needs. Better yet, the monsters are scared of the human world. Brilliant! Some of the very young kids (only a few) at my screening were actually scared at parts in this film, but really, it's not in any way scarier than Bug's Life. It's so good, I didn't even notice Randy Newman's music. Longtime readers will recognize that as a supreme compliment. There are no songs, just so you know.
I was speaking to someone who said he didn't like Disney movies so he was not going to go. Not that they will need his money, but I had no idea people were so misled as to the Pixar-Disney connection, at least insofar as quality in concerned. Artistically, they are day and night, and Pixar, at least as evidenced by their product, is not beholden to the Disney aesthetic. Pixar is batting a thousand and Disney, while the premiere hand-animators in the universe, still rely too much on the beta testing principle. Pixar, please hire me!
The diverse, yet perfect, voice talent is supplied by Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Jennifer Tilly, and James Coburn, and yes, the 8 legged vanishing purple lizard is Steve Buscemi. **Steve Buscemi.** Think Reservoir Dogs and Fargo and Living in Oblivion and The Imposters. Love it! The young lady, Mary Gibbs, who does the voice of Boo, is also perfect.
The concept is great, the dialogue is snappy, the plot moves at a perfect pace. We've got adventure, laughs, even some nice awwwww moments. An amusing homage to the pioneer of stop-motion animation, Ray Harryhausen, made me laugh for several minutes. My companion's and my jaw dropped during the big chase scene. You'll know it when you see it. It's not often a gal like myself who sees easily 100+ movies a year gets totally wowed by a scene, but there it is. I may have loved it better than Shrek - it was definitely more uniform and with less potential to become dated than Shrek.
The animation? Oh my god. I mean, it is Pixar, after all, and the technology has been screaming forward with textures and fur and light and everything, but wow! That fur! It makes Dinosaur look like Jumanji! Shiny eyeballs and sleek reptilian and crustacean skin, depth and scale and plasticity and weight - yummy. You also get a cute bonus short at the beginning, apparently a Pixar tradition, which makes me love them even more. Every film they outdo themselves. The sound engineers, often underappreciated, make it all the more real. How else could we believe so implicitly (as in the outtakes at the end of Bug's Life) that what we are watching has actual solidity? The most real fantasy movie ever. Go see it now!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
These reviews (c) 2001 Karina Montgomery. Please feel free to forward but just credit the reviewer in the text. Thanks.
[email protected]
Check out previous reviews at:
http://www.cinerina.com
http://ofcs.rottentomatoes.com - the Online Film Critics Society http://www.hsbr.net/reviews/karina/ - Hollywood Stock Exchange Brokerage Resource
http://www.mediamotions.com
http://www.capitol-city.com
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
