Monsters, Inc. Review
by Eugene Novikov (lordeugene_98 AT yahoo DOT com)December 5th, 2001
Monsters, Inc (2001)
Reviewed by Eugene Novikov
http://www.ultimate-movie.com/
"It's... it's... take an obscure relative to work day!
Featuring the voices of John Goodman, Billy Crystal, Mary Gibbs, Steve Buscemi, James Coburn. Directed by Peter Docter and David Silverman. Rated G.
Monsters, Inc works on every level. Now this can be applied to just about all of the computer-animated Pixar films, but it is especially true of this one. It made me laugh, gasp in amazement, almost cry. Then it made me happy for about a week. Then I saw it again. It's that good.
Like they did in A Bug's Life, and the Toy Story movies, the good (read: amazingly talented) folks at Pixar have created a world, nay, a universe here. The basic premise is this: there exists a parallel universe populated entirely by monsters. Our New York or London is their Monstropolis, a huge city with a bustling economy that houses a gigantic corporation known as "Monsters, Inc." The company is responsible for providing the city with power by eliciting screams from children in the human universe. It employs "scarers," monsters who go through the doors of the unsuspecting kids' bedroom closets, scare them and collect their results. It's an interesting explanation for why we're afraid of what's in the dark recesses of our closet space.
The current top scarer is James P. Sullivan (John Goodman), eleven-time Employee of the Month and all-around lovable big lug. His assistant is Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal), sarcastic, cynical and pretty much the opposite of "Sully," as he's referred to, in every way. Their rival -- and the film's eventual villain -- is Randall (Steve Buscemi), a shape-shifting, horrifyingly ugly purple monster who will do anything to get his name up on that Top Scarer's board, including coming in late at night and surreptitiously collecting extra screams.
One night, while shuffling through paperwork, Sully finds a door left on the Scare Floor. He goes in and comes out with a human child clinging to his back. But, you see, all monsters have been ingrained with the idea that the mere touch of a human child is deadly to them, and the presence of the kid will inevitably cause panic and ostracism. So Sully and Mike do their best to hide the little girl, voiced by little Mary Gibbs, while realizing that kids aren't so bad after all.
There are a lot of directions to go with this story, and I think Monsters, Inc. goes in all of them at some point or another. The most remarkable thing about it is that though it never breathes -- there is nary a moment when something crucial is not going on -- the emotional core of the story remains lucid. And it is beautiful: everything about childhood, growing up and open-mindedness is here, without any hint of preaching or talking down to the audience. I am convinced that if you look hard enough, the meaning of life -- whatever it is -- is in here somewhere.
Part of this may be because the kid, later nicknamed Boo, is so gosh-darn cute. But I think that her appeal goes beyond cuteness. Boo is a real child, not a figurehead, with real fears and idiosyncracies, and a personality that comes through even though she never even speaks a sentence. Yeah, she's cute, but not in the way E.T. is cute, or that puppy in Turner and Hooch. She's the real thing.
Monsters, Inc. left me feeling warm, and good and happy. By telling a story of monsters in a parallel universe, it somehow reaffirmed my faith in humanity. And, unlike ninety percent of feature-length animated movies, it doesn't just peter out, but ends with a bang. Its last shot is its best.
Grade: A
Up Next: Focus
©2001 Eugene Novikov
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