2001 animated movieRating: 15/20 (Jen: 17/20; Abbey: 20/20)
Plot: There's an energy crisis in Monster Land. Monsters, Inc. uses scaring to convert children's screams into energy, but kids have gotten harder to scare. To make matters more difficult for the company, a toxic child is on the loose. Sully and Mike, two monsters who are about to break the scare record, are forced to deal with the child before somebody finds out they have her. Meanwhile, mean monster Steve Buscemi has other devious plans.
Like some other Pixar movies, the action sequences at the end are a bit on the ludicrous side. That quickly-paced stuff with the doors is just wacky. The characters at times look a little rubbery, but the computer animation in this does seem to be a big step forward from A Bug's Life and the Toy Story movies, improvements which continue with the next two. Sully's hair is frequently cited as an impressive animated feat, but I really like how the animators use light/dark in this one. There's some interesting shadow work and some setting textures that I really like. The story is very creative, and while the humor doesn't always work, there are a lot of very funny moments. I love the Abominable Snowman (Ratzenberger, of The Empire Strikes Back fame), and Boo's too cute for words. Pixar nailed "cute little kid" with this one--the wordless babytalk, the mannerisms, the mischievousness. The characters are well-developed and well-voiced (Goodman and Buscemi are especially good; Crystal ranges from excellent to sort-of annoying.). The ending gets me nearly every time. At times, it almost seems like there are too many ideas stuffed into one movie (in a bad way), but this is still a creative and fun family flick that is easy to enjoy again and again.
I think that the preview for this had me more excited to see this than any other Pixar film. What an awesome concept.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your review and grade. The door scene goes on FOREVER, and I think Randall and the bad guy's plot gets way too dark for a kids movie, especially when such a sweet little girl is the victim. I also love the main characters and the wonderful ending. A mixed bag makes this kind of a disappointment and low on my Pixar list.
You think a plan involving the kidnapping of toddlers, securing them to an intimidating machine, and using some kind of device that ends up making their lips obscenely big is too dark? I think the bad guys' scheme (or the reasons behind it) in this would be over most kids' heads, wouldn't it?
ReplyDeleteMy biggest problem with 'Monsters,' I think, is that the gags seem detached from the story. When Mike and Sully are walking to work, there are all these visual gags, but they seem thrown in instead of really working with the storytelling. Same with other parts of the movie.
It's funny that you mentioned the previews...I was thinking about Pixar previews earlier. Every time I see a preview for a Pixar movie, I think, "Ahhh...here's one that isn't going to be very good." I thought 'Monsters Inc.' looked silly when I saw the preview. I really really thought 'Finding Nemo' would suck (it's my favorite). 'The Incredibles' made me think, "This one will suck because people always look dopey in these computer animated things." 'Cars' I just knew I would hate (ended up just not liking it very much rather than hating it)...I hated the idea that they were making a sequel to 'Toy Story' and didn't need to see a preview to know I'd hate it. Really, 'Up' is the only exception as a movie I thought I'd like from the preview, but I did wonder how it would appeal to children.