Monsters, Inc.

Year: 2001

Running time: 92 minutes

Certificate: U

Language: English

Screenplay: Andrew Stanton, Daniel Gerson

Director: Pete Docter

Starring (voices): John Goodman, Billy Crystal, Steve Buscemi, Mary Gibbs, James Coburn, Jennifer Tilly

Dave.

So far, Pixar have done no wrong. It doesn't matter which one of their films you see, it is brimming over with a sharp wit, wonderful originality and some of the finest animation ever seen. The person that came up with the idea that monsters scare kids because the screams power their city is touched by brilliance, but that wonderful central story idea is just the start. Monsters, Inc. is the power company responsible for collecting the screams, and it is where our heroes James P. Sullivan aka 'Sulley' (John Goodman) and Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) work. Using some ingenious monster technology, they have a huge network of doors to bedrooms all over the world where Sulley creeps in to scare the kids and Mike collects the screams on the factory floor.

Mike and Sulley head to work.

However, the brightly coloured Monstropolis is not without trouble. There is a looming scream shortage, on account of kids growing up sooner and being less frightened. When Sulley notices a young girl (a human child, the most toxic thing there is) entering the monster world he embarks on a quest to firstly, save himself, then save his and Mike's careers, and finally save Boo (the girl, voiced convincingly by the then 5 year-old Mary Gibbs) from a dastardly plot involving kidnapping children and attaching them to a frighteningly huge machine built to extract screams more efficiently.

Like every Pixar film Monsters, Inc. works perfectly and effortlessly on a number of levels - there is bright slapstick comedy for kids (the best example of which is Randall Boggs (Steve Buscemi) and his end at the hands of a trailer park mom with a shovel), but there is layer upon layer of in-jokes for children of all ages, such as the restaurant Harryhausen's, named after the effects wizard who first portrayed monsters onscreen using cutting edge stop-motion animation techniques. Although all Pixar films have lots of comedy, Monsters, Inc. is so far the most relentlessly funny by some margin, thanks largely to the remarkable performance given by Billy Crystal, who invests Mike Wazowski with an irresistibly charming mix of naive gullibility and think-on-your-feet cunning. Sulley is clearly Pixar's best achievement in animation in this film, but it's Mike who steals the show.

The climax is one of Pixar's most thrilling, a real roller-coaster ride following Sulley and Mike as they race to get Boo safely back to her bedroom. The imagination and ingenuity that has gone into the design of the door-storage part of the factory is staggering and provides all kinds of opportunities for laughs and action as the chase continues through doors to different bedrooms the world over.

It's not just played for laughs or thrills, however - no Pixar film would dare be so shallow. There are moments that resonate emotionally too, tapping in to that all-too-familiar fear of the dark and what might be hiding in it, and when Mike shows Sulley Boo's door near the end, reassembled piece by painstaking piece, don't be surprised to find yourself with a lump in your throat and your eyes filling up. And when the the door opens, and you hear Boo's voice off screen: "Kitty!" it's enough to soften the hardest of hearts, and a perfect ending.

It doesn't quite reach the giddy heights of the Toy Story trilogy, but it's fabulous nonetheless.

Score: 8/10

Rachel.

Sulley comes face-to-face with his biggest fear; a human child.

A film to have kids for! Complementing what Dave has said in his review, a Pixar film gives you confidence that it will be enjoyable for all ages. Monsters, Inc. is full of unforgettable characters, hilarious jokes that work on a number of levels and introduces the romantic notion for kids that monsters are just as scared of you as you are of them.

On a more technical note, one of the best scenes is where Sulley and Mike have been banished to Tibet and thousands of separately animated strands of the big blue monster's fur are blowing in the wind - fantastic animation.

All round classic family entertainment!

Score: 8/10

Unsurprisingly, there isn't much in the way of negative criticism out there for Monsters, Inc. These reviews from Ram and Roger Ebert are largely in agreement.