The latest
Disney and Pixar team-up, Monsters Inc., tells a story
where monsters are afraid of kids, and visa-versa, instead of just
one side having control over the other. Though well done, and
entertaining to watch, the storyline and quality of animation aren’t
nearly up to that of Dreamworks’ Shrek. The film is
delightful, and at times heart wrenching; but doesn’t have the spunk
of the fantastic Disney masterpieces. Because of its extremely
entertaining cover, I will give it a strong recommendation; but if
you haven’t seen some of the better animated pieces, like
Shrek, than push this aside and rent one of them.
The story:
Mike and Sulley are business partners at Monsters Inc. in the
monster world. Sulley is a big and scary monster whose job is to
walk through doors that lead into children’s bedrooms, which slide
into to his station on a conveyor belt in a rather large room
located in the Monsters Inc. vicinity. He must scare the children
and capture their screams, which act as electricity for the monster
community. Mike, a one eyed lime green monster, is his spotter, who
makes sure everything goes according to plan and that Sulley never
is hurt by these dreaded children. There are hundreds of “scarers”
in the monster corporation, but Sulley is the best.
Mike and
Sulley are excellent at what they do, and try their hardest. Except
when Mike is tempted to open one of the doors passing through on the
conveyor belt; everything goes wrong. A child hops into the monster
world when his temptation exceeds his brain power, and he makes the
mistake of opening up the door! Her name is Boo. This would all be
fine if humans were accepted for what they are in the monster world.
But when the company finds out they want to crush the little child
to pieces, and send it back into any random spot in the regular
world.
The only
person Mike tells is Sulley, and as both of their bonds grow with
little Boo, they find that they must hide her from the rest of the
population. In order to buy time to think up a plan to get her
bedroom door back, they disguise her as a monster, and it works
pretty well. Will they be able to send her back or will the other
monsters find her? This is for you to find out, for you must watch
this interesting and creative tale. The only real problem I had with
the film is that it never really takes off, not to say that it was
bland, but watching it was similar to riding a roller-coaster with
corkscrews, but no giant loop-de-loop.
The animation
was different, not bad, but different. All of the colors were used
in a very neutral way, even the brightest of pinks didn’t stand out
amongst all of the other images in the full picture. This made it
easier to watch, but never created any excitement. Though I did
prefer this over the interesting way Jimmy Neutron: Boy
Genius was done; as I said before, it was not up to the high
quality of Shrek.
One feature
that stood out more than any other was the way that every creative
little joke was done. To give you a small dose of the humor I will
indirectly quote a clever conversation exchanged between Mike and
Sully in the men’s room located at Monsters Inc. Sulley: “Can I
borrow your oderant?” Mike: “Sure what kind you want?” Sulley: “You
got any hairy dog?” Mike: “Nah. But I got some…” I won’t give any
more of it away because its definitely one of the biggest highlights
of the movie, you’ll love the funny names that come out of the next
half of the line. The dialogue was deviously comical.
The character
voices, were some of the best I’ve heard in an animated movie in a
long time. Billy Crystal was great as the full-of-it Mike Wizowski,
and is only described by being an excellent match of face to voice.
John Goodman also was great as Sulley, too; such an innocent voice
for such a terrifying monster proved the “book shouldn’t be judged
by its cover” theory. But the best of all was the youngling Marry
Gibbs, who did the voice of Boo. I had no idea how a six or seven
year old could create such an accurate infant voice so wonderfully.
She has talent, and should be used by Disney in years to come for
more animated features, if she can keep the same talent for the rest
of her life.
Upon
reflection, I’m glad I saw Monsters Inc., and bought
the DVD. Mike and Sulley’s ingenious pairing definitely keeps the
Disney name alive, as most of their other films do. I will say again
that its not up to the high quality of Shrek, but is
still well worth a watch. Kids will enjoy the simple G-rated humor,
and parents will definitely respect it for what it is. The “Monsters”
make a heck of a great film!
-Danny, Bucket Reviews
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