The best animated film of the year!
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| Review Date: October 29, 2001 |
| Reviewer: John DiBello, Brooklyn, NY |
| I was lucky enough to see an advance screening of this movie the past weekend and *highly* recommend it to everyone: kids, adults, monsters--you all have to go see this one! The newest movie from CGI geniuses Pixar, the studio that brought you the "Toy Story" movies and "A Bug's Life", is a sheer delight from beginning to end. The characters are cleverly designed and fun to watch, the animation is brisk and colorful, the dialogue funny and sparkling, the voice casting perfect, and most important of all, the story compelling and intriguing. This is a cartoon that insults no one's intelligence--it's perfect for the kids as well as adults, without condescending or sinking into juvenile humor (well, there are a few toilet jokes, but they're so lightly done as to be inoffensive to anyone). This "E.T. in reverse" story has wonderful plot ideas--monsters in the closet scare human kids to create "scream energy" to power their city, Monsteropolis--but monsters are as afraid of kids as kids they are of monsters. When a charming and cuddly little tot nicknamed "Boo" escapes into the monster world, it's up to scaremonster Sulley and his nervous cohort Mike to save the kid, put her back where she belongs, and keep anyone else from finding out she's loose in the monster world--but Sulley's sinister co-worker Randall (a charmingly oily chameleon) has devious plans for little Boo... There's so much detail going on that this one demands you see it multiple times (and with a plot, characters and voice acting as charming as this, you will *want* to). The voice acting is spot-on (I've always felt John Goodman was a great actor; who would have ever expected a blue and purple monster would be one of his finest roles?) and the care and attention Pixar has put into the making of this film shows: every frame sparkles with color and wit, and the last-act chase through the Monsters, Inc. factory, where Sulley, Mike, Boo and Randall leap from closet door to closet door thousands of feet above the factory floor is amazingly designed, brilliant and inspired, a breathtaking edge-of-your-seat chase that rivals the Death Star Attack in "Star Wars." Best of all, it features a sweet and emotional ending that had the cynical New York professional crowd I was seeing it with literally go "Awwwwwwwwww..." aloud. And if you have any doubt as to the sense of fun that this movie inspires, check out Sulley and Mike's Amazon.com Customer Reviews and Wish Lists! Heck, *I'd* buy Mike that copy of Toni Morrison's "The Bluest Eye"! "Monsters, Inc": the best animated film of the year? Absolutely...maybe even the best *film* of the year. Certainly the most fun--and that's exactly what we need right now. |
Great family movie
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| Review Date: October 30, 2001 |
| Reviewer: , |
| Great animation and story. I took my 3 yr old to see the movie at a preview and that's all she has talked about for the last 2 days. I think she enjoyed it as much as I did. It will be on my wish list for Christmas (and I'm 36 yrs old). You have to take your kids to see it. |
Pixar has done it again!
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| Review Date: August 26, 2002 |
| Reviewer: Michael A. Brown, Salt Lake City, UT USA |
| Admittedly, I am a fan of Pixar's work. Their artists have done some incredible animated features over the years. Between the "Toy Story" movies and "A Bug's Life," they have managed in a short time to build an impressive track record. Their shorts are also among the best ever produced. So my expectations going into this movie were very high. The story concerns the monsters in your closet. The theory being that their world runs of the energy produced by children's screams. Sulley (John Goodman) is number one at getting screams. His main rival (Steve Buschemi) will do anything to gain the top spot. Oh, and they consider the touch of a human child to be toxic. While not as instantly relatable as "Toy Story," the movie builds on the talents of Goodman and Billy Crystal (Mike) to bring you into this make-believe world as Sulley and Mike try to get little Boo back through the closet door to the safety of her bedroom. Disney/Pixar has presented this well on DVD. Both Widescreen and Pan & Scan versions are available on the first disc. The second disc has games, outtakes, an award winning animated short, and a fun (easy to find) Easter Egg. All in all, if you enjoy Pixar's work, or animated features in general, this is a must have for your collection. |
Uncertain about young children seeing this movie ? Read on.
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| Review Date: November 30, 2001 |
| Reviewer: Elizabeth Whelchel, The Woodlands, Texas USA |
| I have two children ages 4 and 3 and was concerned about them viewing a movie about monsters. The main thing you spend time telling young children is " there aren't any monsters". I worried that the film would only make things worse for them. Before the age of 6, children have a tough time distinguishing between fact and fiction. However, the film really helped them by allaying their fears and turning something scary into a best friend. The characters are well developed and really appeal to children of all ages. Even parents can sit through the film without looking at their watch every ten minutes! The ending was somewhat turbulent but concluded on a good note. My children have repeatedly asked to see the movie again and in light of how good it was the first time through I don't mind taking them. Definately worth seeing ! |
Beautiful in Bluray
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| Review Date: September 10, 2009 |
| Reviewer: R. Suarez Giacoman, Mc Allen, Texas United States |
Before anyone starts saying this has not been released yet and there cannot be a review of the Bluray edition let me tell you this, this movie has been available in Japan and Mexico for quite some time now, and I was able to get a copy of the Mexican edition, which was at one time, identical to the one to be released in the US. It is a 3 disc edition (2 BD plus DVD copy of the movie), this has now been changed to a 4 disc set in the US to include the additional digital copy.
Disc one starts with an intro by director Pete Docter, in which he pretty much explains all the contents in this 'glorious' high definition version of the movie. A mini documentary on the 'Monsters, Inc: Ride & Go Seek ' ride in Disney Japan is also included. The highlight to me was the creators 'Round table' in which they talk about the process of creating the movie, some deleted scenes not included in prior DVD versions are shown here and they finally explained to me why is it so difficult to get a reservation at 'Harryhausen's' if all the staff from the scare floor seems to hang around there!
The Pixar shorts 'For the birds' and 'Mike's new car' (originally made on 4:3 format) are also included in HD format (as previously released in 'Pixar shorts)
The movie is presented in 1:85:1 aspect ratio. The word that comes to mind to describe how this looks is simply 'Beautiful', the colors, the textures, Sullivan's fur, the character's skin textures, Roz' sweater. Details pop up, colors are bright and clear. I had never noted that the real name of 'Boo' is actually in the movie until I saw it on Bluray!
The audio is another improvement of this BD edition. Presented in an uncompressed 5.1 track, the music by Randy Newman and the sound effects (check the audio in the door chamber sequence or every time 'Boo' laughs/cries and there is a power variation) sound just great. Spanish and French Dolby Digital tracks are also included. An audio commentary with the creators provides a lot of details of the movie, since I have watched this over and over with my 2 year old kid I have been able to play the commentary a couple times so he watches the movie and I learn about how it was made.
One thing I noted though, the end credits in the Bluray are not the same as in the DVD. The DVD will have the bloopers play while the credits roll, while the Bluray does not. Those 'Bloopers' though are included in disc 2 as additional features.
Disc 2 includes a feature called the 'Employee's manual' Additional spots created to promote the film are included too. Storyboards and drawings from the artists in HD as well as the '100 doors challenge', which is like a trivia game in which based on your responses you will be offered a position in Monsters Inc. Disc 3 as mentioned earlier, is a DVD copy of the movie (in the Mexican edition the 4:3 presentation is included, NOT widescreen) which is great as my kid can have that to watch it as many times as he desires.
Fans of the movie or any Pixar movie should not miss this!
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