Monsters Inc. Is Scary Good

By Teddy Durgin
Monsters Inc. (new in theaters Nov. 2) is a movie that has become so immediately dear to my heart that I just hope I write a review that is good enough to do it justice. This is the new animated film from Pixar, the same company that brought us both Toy Story flicks. Monsters Inc. is every bit as good as those movies, if not better.

Were you scared of monsters as a kid? Did you think they lurked under your bed or in your closet? Monsters Inc. finally solves the riddle of where these elusive creatures originate from and what they want. It seems they come from a parallel world and they enter through the doorways of children's bedroom closets. Their mission: to collect children's screams (there is no purer energy) to power their city. But scaring kids is dangerous work. Would you believe the monsters are just as frightened of the young ones as they are of them? The monsters believe that Earth kids are toxic. Avoid contact with them at all costs, don't bring anything back with you, and do not let a tyke escape through the bedroom-door portals into the Monster world.

So, does this all sound a little too intense for an animated film? It's not. It's all about style. All of the monsters are just big, overly embellished stuffed animals fully realized for the big screen. John Goodman is the voice of the movie's main character, James P. Sullivan (all the monsters have normal names, because they are essentially Working Joes). "Sully" is a cross between Grimace from McDonaldland and the Bumble from "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer." He has a neon blue fur coat and a face that somewhat resembles Goodman in real life. In short, he's a lovable lunk!

Sully is also the lead "scare-getter" at the Monsters Inc. factory. His Scare Assistant is a wise-cracking, one-eyed monster named Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) with woman troubles (Jennifer Tilly has some daffy moments as Mike's Medusa-like girlfriend). Together, Waz and Sully make quite a team. Conflict comes when Sully's rival, the morphing worm-like monster Randall Boggs (Steve Buscemi), looks to take Sully's all-time scream record by any means necessary. Boggs sneaks into the factory after hours and tries to pad his score. Sully, also working late as a favor to Mike, inadvertently goes through a child's door meant for Randall and brings back Boo, a tiny human tot who causes emergency after emergency in Monster Metropolis.

I'll leave the rest of the movie a surprise. That's because Monsters Inc. offers one surprise after another, both from a visual standpoint and a narrative one. Along the way, there are some very funny moments (including several excellent inside jokes, like a riff on The Right Stuff). My favorite scene has Randall briefly pulling ahead of Sully, only to see his competitor's scare score soar moments later on the tally board. Sully then emerges from one of the portals, shoots Randall a proud look, and cracks: "Slumber party!"

I also loved how the filmmakers played off of such real-life things as factory training techniques, industrial safety procedures, and corporate politics. And, of course, it's more than a little amazing how Pixar keeps topping themselves with eye-popping animation. Each scene in Monsters Inc. is packed with so much visual detail that you can't possibly catch everything on first viewing. Even the little touches will blow you away, like the way Sully's fur moves when he walks or the dirt on a locker room floor.

So many reviews just praise the company Pixar and leave out some of its main players. Here are a few names that should be as well-known as Spielberg, Lucas, and Disney: Peter Docter, John Lasseter, and Andrew Stanton. All three have had a hand in writing, directing, and producing both Toy Story movies (not to mention A Bug's Life) and now Monsters Inc. It's great that these guys can still keep so much of the child alive inside themselves, and yet still turn out G-rated films that are sophisticated, clever, involving, and just darn entertaining to watch.

The story of Monsters Inc. works so well, and all of the characters have such strong personalities, that we eventually stop envisioning Crystal and Goodman and Buscemi in front of microphones, and completely accept Mike, Sully, Randall, and the others on their own terms. The same held true for Woody (Tom Hanks) and Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) in Toy Story. It's that elusive thing known as movie magic, and Monsters Inc. has plenty of it.

So, was I scared of monsters in the closet as a child? No way. Other things used to scared me. Silly things. The Space Vampire on Buck Rogers in the 25th Century creeped the Hell outta me! Anybody remember that episode? Space Vampire had that one, Bert-and-Ernie eyebrow that went across his forehead, and he always wanted to extract people's souls by jabbing his Lee Press-On Nails against their necks.

That guy was friggin' scary!

What else spooked me? Hmmmm. The feel of my Grandmother Durgin's feathery mustache whenever she would kiss me on holidays. You knew that Wet Willie was coming for ya. No sense in trying to escape it. As that Billy Dee 'stache moved closer and closer to the side of my head, I would just focus on other things, like the cash she just gave me in the Hallmark card.

What else? Oh! The first time I read the ingredients of a Hostess Twinkie! Now, that really threw me (although, I must have gotten over that one, as I power down three or four of the little suckers a sitting). I also remember being very scared of crickets chirping at night. It's one of my earliest memories, lying in my crib near an open window. It was summer, I recall. And I swear those chirps sounded like "Ted-dy! Ted-dy! Ted-dy!"

Today, the world is a much scarier place. When you have little kids using their Crayolas to draw planes hitting buildings, you know the time for escapism is now. Monsters Inc. will hopefully give mass audiences the diversion needed. I absolutely adore this movie, and I will see it at least three more times in the theater. Is that enough of a recommendation? Heck, next time, I wanna go see it WITH some kids. Anybody got a few you want me to take? Nah, forget it! Go see it, too. Monsters Inc. is for them, and it is for you. It's the kind of movie that teaches you that the only thing more powerful in the universe than the scream of a child is the laughter of a child.

Monsters Inc. is rated G. There may be a few intense moments for very young children, but this one is really good for audiences of all ages.