I'm always sort of shocked when people
say one original idea Monsters Inc is I
don't know I just know I've seen this
idea in other Saturday morning cartoons
with monsters that go and scare kids and
then they've returned to sort of like
this office environment like it's almost
a business I've seen it before but just
because something's been done before
doesn't mean it's necessarily bad as
long as they can bring something new and
unique to it and that's exactly what
Monsters Inc does it creates characters
it creates an environment
it creates an interesting reason why
they need to scare little kids but I
don't know if these characters are
really on par with say the Toy Story
series or the story for that matter does
that make it bad well let's take a look
at what we got you got two monsters one
play by Billy Crystal and another play
by John Goodman they're great at scaring
little kids and getting them to scream
why it's important to get them to scream
well because apparently the monster
world that they live in is powered by
the screams of children it's how they
harness their energy electricity and so
forth that's kind of creative they're in
competition with another monster played
by Steve Buscemi who's constantly trying
to beat the record for the most scares
but is constantly broken by our two
heroes the catch though they're
convinced that kids are unbelievably
contagious they think that they spread
disease and just touching them can
destroy you for life so it's probably
not the best ugh into the monster world
and is totally driving our two heroes
crazy the irony of course is that two
grotesque monsters are absolutely
terrified of a cute innocent little girl
things get even more crazy when the
monsters actually start to like the
little girl but discover that she
actually may be part of a giant
conspiracy there's a plot to use the
children to fuel this giant machine that
can suck the life out of them or at
least turn them white or something I'm
not really sure what it does but
apparently it makes even more energy and
I'm not really sure if it kills them or
what or even what it's doing but though
it sounds evil yeah okay the evil plan
in this movie is a little complicated
and honestly even I can barely follow it
and unfortunately that's not the film's
only shortcoming people may disagree
with me but well I think John Goodman's
performance is fine I really don't get
into
Billy Crystal maybe it's a little too
old-school a little too vaudeville a
little too playing to the audience I
don't know just something about the
delivery does not satisfy me well then
why don't you find someplace for you to
sleep while I think of a plan I could
see like a Patton Oswald in this role or
a Jack Black but there's a lot of things
where I was saying to myself I should be
laughing at this so why am I not and I
really do think it's his delivery if you
enjoy it fine it's just not for me the
villains are unbelievably weak - I won't
give away who they all are but let's
just say it's kind of friggin obvious if
you're gonna do a villain in a movie
make them good villains I mean the
designs are kind of fun but the
characters are so bland and so
forgettable why couldn't you make them
funny - or if you're gonna make him evil
make him really evil make him diabolical
go Frollo on our asses just really
really have fun with it the plot like I
said while a good set up gets a little
too complicated I think even for kids to
follow I mean they can get through it
okay but the specifics are kind of odd
and the hero's journeys aren't really
that much either at least again from the
Billy Crystal standpoint I don't really
care how his relationship with his
girlfriend goes I don't really care how
his connection with his job goes I don't
even really care how's relationship with
his best friend goes I don't know I'm
not sure if it's the character or the
performance I mean I don't hate him it
just doesn't grab me in the least but
I'll tell you what does grab me the
setup which is very creative the climax
which is a ton of fun and actually I do
like the relationship between John
Goodman's character and the girl and
this is another area where you might
disagree with me people either seem to
love this girl or hate her and I can see
both sides of the argument I mean on the
one hand yeah she's kind of annoying she
barely forms words she just sort of
giggles and it's almost kind of
pandering to the little kids oh isn't
that funny she's laughing she's bidding
going tee hee hee I mean I can see that
side but I do sort of like how the
monsters are really really freaked out
by her and how they're just downright
terrified and I like how the
relationship does actually build between
the two of them I like how he starts to
enjoy something they supposed to be
afraid of I like they actually starts to
care I like they starts to play with her
I don't know maybe I'm just a schmuck
for that kind of stuff so on the whole
the movie is sort of a mixed bag there's
some stuff I really like a lot of stuff
I don't like but it's hard to think of
anything I really hate some of the
monsters are creative but to be fair I
think that could have been more creative
on the designs but they make up with it
with some of the cool textures like look
at that you can see every individual
hair on that thing so while I don't
think it's the strongest and I think a
lot more jokes and character could have
come from this I think master Zink is
cute it's not the best but you know what
for a brief little bit of entertainment
and just something bright and colorful
and has a little bit of a brain to it
I'd give it a pass I'm glad I saw it I
just don't think I would see it again