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 've never been too fond of CGI animation. Sure, I enjoyed Toy Story,
Shrek, and now Monsters, Inc., but I've just
never been overly enthusiastic about seeing them. The simple reason is that I've
never found anything especially interesting or dynamic about watching computer
blocks acting human onscreen. The problem, I think, is that the CGI animation of
today is so geared towards comedy that it's next to impossible to feel anything
for them once you've had your share of laughter and then left the theater. As
was similarly the case with Shrek, there's never anything solid you can
take home with you. There's nothing...special about them, or where
they're coming from, or where they took you while watching it.
I found Monsters,
Inc., while being a good movie, to lack the heart and spirit of say, the
1988 Japanimation My
Neighbor Totoro. Monsters, Inc. is yet another high-concept Pixar CGI
animation in the vein of Toy Story
and its sequel, and the just-released Shrek.
With Monsters, Inc., the concept is that there are real monsters and they
live in a world parallel to our own. The monsters all work at a factory
called Monsters, Inc., that hires them as "scarers" whose job it is to
scare children. To achieve this, the company has magic doors that opens a
doorway into children's rooms via their closet (remember the last time your
child complained that there were monsters in your closet?). Apparently every child in the world has
a door that can be used by the monsters. Why do they do this? Because children's
fears, most notably their screams, can be processed into usable energy, the same
energy that runs monster city.
It's a good concept and a very
creative one. Toy Story had the same idea -- the concept was: toys really
do come to life when their owners aren't present. Oh, and Monsters, Inc.
also explains why children's socks keep going missing -- it's because the
monsters coming through the closet doors accidentally take the socks
with them.
The world of Monsters, Inc. is, like its concept,
very creative in look. The monster world believes that humans,
especially human children, are toxic, and can kill with a touch. Hence the irony
that the monsters scaring the kids are actually even more scared of the kids
themselves, which explains why once a kid gets over his fear, he can never be
afraid again. Monsters, Inc. explains it this way: once a kid becomes
immune to his personal monster (the one that keeps visiting his room to get his
scare) the gateway to the kid's room is destroyed because it's become useless.
Now, I explain all this in a dry way, but the actual explanations done in the
movie are actually very humorous. Everything is warped and you're bound to
laugh, or at least smile, at some of the goofy anti-children procedures. This
includes an army of yellow-HAZMAT suit wearing SWAT team that jumps into action
every time a child shows up in the monster world or a piece of the human world,
say a sock, accidentally returns with a monster. It's all very interesting and
worth a silly grin.
While I found the idea behind the movie to be intriguing
and excellently executed, more than half of the movie consists of an unrelenting
chase. The chase is by the CDA, the Child Detection Agency (the monster world's HAZMAT/SWAT
team), as they try to locate a human child that's come into the monster world, creating
havoc because everyone is afraid of her. The child, nicknamed Boo, becomes
attached to Monsters Inc.'s top scarer, a big blue monster name Sully and his
partner, the one-eye (literally) Mikey.
The two reluctantly hides the human Boo
because to be spotted with her will get them both canned and tossed in jail. Much of the movie's 85 minute running time consists
of the two friends running from the CDA and a rival monster name Randall. While
the chase sequences are fun and often inventive, one can only stand so much of
them until they become repetitive.
Fortunately, there are plenty of funny moments sprinkled
throughout the movie. One involves the concept that monsters that break the
monster world's laws are banished to the human world. One of those banished
monsters is the Abominable Snowman, another is Bigfoot, and still another is the
Loch Ness Monster. When Sully and Mikey are caught and banished, the Abominable
Snowman shows up and provides the movie's funniest dialogues. Unfortunately, the
scenes with Randall, the rival scarer, are dull and Randall is, quite literally,
such a slimy villain that he becomes trite and boring after a while.
Ironically enough, for a G-rated comedy, the movie does
have some genuinely scary moments for the younger crowds, mostly involving the
human Boo being scared by various monsters. I'm not sure
if some of the scenes were appropriate for youngsters under 5, but that's just
my opinion, and there has been little debate about this, so I assume no one has
complained.
Monsters, Inc. doesn't have nearly as much comedy as
Shrek, or have more than one layer to its comedy, but it provides a
couple of good laughs. Kids, I suppose, would enjoy all the chasing. As an
adult, I was a little bored after a while.
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