Monsters, Inc. (2001)
I didn't think the folks at Pixar could come up
with anything more fun, witty, sly and creative than
the "Toy Story" films. Boy was I wrong. "Monsters, Inc."
isn't just one of the best cartoons ever, it's one of
the best films to be released this year.
The story, which I will try not to ruin, is creative
and cunning and a perfect set-up for all kinds of hi-jinx
and hilarity. The characters are hilarious and warm
and fuzzy. But the most important thing of all about
the film is its theme. "Monsters, Inc." is no less than
a treatise on the joys of parenthood.
The characters of Mike and Sully, as voiced by
Billy Crystal and John Goodman, are the archetype buddies.
With homoeroticism averted slightly by Mike's interest
in a secretary (voiced with sugary goofiness by Jennifer
Tilly), the two males take on the duties of fatherhood
when a human infant comes into their sphere.
As voiced by Mary Gibbs, Baby Boo is one of the
sweetest, most loving, most tender, most innocent characters
to ever play in a story. Like "Baby's Day Out," the
film uses a young tyke in enormously dangerous situations
to evoke hilarity and warmth. But, as with that John
Hughes film, we forgive the set-up because we know it
is not real, here it is even more evident because we
are dealing with all computer animated characters and
situations. Boo is animated too, unlike Hughes' tyke,
but she is perhaps the most human and realistic child
to appear in a film yet. She will win your heart, warm
it, break it, and win it all over again, just like a
real child.
The effect Boo has on the "men" in the film, in
particular Goodman's Sully, is wonderful and shimmering.
Sully travels through all the reactions a man would
and does when presented with a child to care for: Fear,
disgust, agitation, comforting, concern, and then love
that travels from mere fondness to deep, deep devotion.
To watch Sully traverse this emotional road (and to
empathize with him having travelled it ourselves) is
nothing short of pure joyousness. Goodman nails his
character (as does everyone in the film) and makes the
themes of love and compassion reverberate with warmth,
humor and compassion.
Humor, of course, is a huge part of the film. In
fact, the film is hilarious. My sides ached from some
of the incredible dialogue offered up here. Goodman
is largely responsible for some of this, but it is Crystal
who really grabs this angle of the film and ruins with
it. Riffing off a character he created for "Saturday
Night Live" in the '80's (where he played a construction
worker and traded absurdist barbs with Christopher Guest
that generally ended with "I hate it when that happens"),
Crystal creates a character that is funny yet human.
His Mike Wzowski isn't as ridiculous as the "SNL" incarnation,
but rather a proverbial second banana loser who acts
as corner man to Sully's more likeable "Joe." Crystal
makes "Monsters Inc" ache with humor and compassion
as well, in his own inimitable way.
I defy anyone to watch this film and not bust a
gut laughing. And then I challenge them to get through
"Monsters, Inc" without shedding a tear at the truly
astounding and delightful compassionate love between
father (figure) and child here.
This is the best animated film I've seen since
"Beauty and the Beast."
Note:
Also featuring the voices of James Coburn and Steve
Buscemi.
The film was known in pre-production as "The Hidden
City."
The credits opening and closing the film use "traditional
Disneyesque" animation.
The score is by Randy Newman and the inevitable
Newman to-be- Oscar-nominated song is sung over the
end credits by Crystal and Goodman.
Pixar created a "trailer" for the film that ran
on "Harry Potter" (which was released AFTER "Monsters,
Inc." In the "short," the duo play charades and Sully
tries to get Mike to guess "Harry Potter." It's creative
and hilarious and one of the first times a trailer was
created to run with a specific film as well as be marketed
after the film's opening weekend.
On 12/7/01, Disney added a segment of outtakes
to the prints of the films in current general release.
(This has been done before. It's done in an effort to
get patrons to pay again to see the film with a few
minutes of added footage.)
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