Movie Review - Monsters, Inc.
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2001 / 92 Minutes / G
Reviewed by Dale Nauertz
First of all, I must gush about the “Star Wars: Attack of the Clones” teaser which was attached to this movie. Sorry, I know that I should be reviewing the new Pixar flick. But, really, those thirty seconds of footage from a movie that is six months away from me was more breathlessly entertaining, cooler and much more adrenaline-pumping than anything in Pixar’s latest film. Oh my God, this movie has me excited. All it is thirty seconds of footage from the latest Star Wars flick, bits and pieces of it, with the sound of Vader’s breathing in the background. But it works. I would give a kidney to see this movie RIGHT NOW! So the teaser works. It has a dark tone. Watto is in it. Sam Jackson is in it. Yoda is looking very upset. Millions of troops are being loaded onto a large ship. Anakin is engaging in a light saber duel with someone. Obi Wan is floating in the air with amazing serenity. And, best of all, Jar Jar Binks is nowhere to be seen. This movie might actually have a chance. I was reduced once again to that little boy who ran around the house with a Chewbacca figure reenacting the films and supplying my own sound effects with my mouth. Lucas has done the job with the teaser. Now, let’s see if the movie can live up to one immensely cool teaser.
Back, reluctantly, to “Monsters Inc.” Yes, the Episode Two trailer really is that much better than this film. “Monsters Inc.” is the story of two monsters. Their names are Sulley and Mike Wakowski (John Goodman and Billy Crystal, respectively). Together, they are the best team of “scarers” at “Monsters Incorporated”: a company which provides energy for the city of Monsteropolis by harnessing the energy of small children’s screams. One day, they accidentally bring a little girl (nicknamed “Boo”) over from the human world and all heck breaks loose. You see, children are viewed as highly infectious creatures and physical contact with them is to be avoided at any cost.
Mike and Sulley run around for far too long looking for the little girl (in scenes and sequences that I have a feeling were meant to be funny, but really aren’t) and, in the process, Sulley discovers feelings for the little tyke which force him to re-evaluate his entire nature.
What works? The creature animation is pretty breathtaking. You never doubt in the existence of Mike or Sulley or any of the other myriad creatures on display in the film. Each hair on Sulley’s blue pelt moves individually and miraculously. The environments feel real. And the sequence with the doors in the midst of the factory is simply dazzling.
But, by that point, it’s simply a case of too little too late. The premise is a great one. But once it is established, the film really has nothing else to say. The plot is pretty typical. I always knew what was going to happen next and the big plot twist is visible from about a kilometer away. The voice talents are all game, and they create good characters, but, aside from Goodman’s Sulley, there is really nothing for them to do. Most of the jokes fall completely flat. And the film is lacking the zip, the spark, that made the Toy Story films and “A Bug’s Life” so fantastic. Those were mesmerizing, dazzling and bewildering films that were packed with clever moments and dense with hilarious moments. The characters were far more endearing (Sulley and Boo have a nice relationship, but Mike was largely just annoying) and the whole enterprise was just far more magical. Those films kept me on the edge of my seat and made me feel like a kid again. This film almost put me to sleep in the middle.
The middle is simply too long. Had perhaps fifteen minutes been excised from it, I would probably be giving this film a “B”. But, as it is, you just want it to get over with by the time the door chase is over. The door chase is dazzling (I think I already said that, but it does bear repeating) and the animation is great. But it could have been so much more. The jokes are just so flat and the plot so routine that none of that mattered. The animation is so good that it feels like a live-action movie. Unfortunately, it feels like a live-action movie with a good idea but a number of problems.
I was actually shocked to find that I liked “Shrek” a lot more than this. I liked “Atlantis” infinitely more. That was an original ride, and a consistent one. Unlike this messy affair. The kids I saw it with seemed to love it, though, so what the heck do I know? But I just wanted more. I expect more from Pixar. That’s all. They made their first three films so magical that I refuse to settle for one that is merely adequate.
